WORTH 


ilifornia 

;ional 

ility 


ft 

L-X^      i 


UCSB  LIBRAE 


Women  Worth  Emulating. 


BY 


CLARA  L.  BALFOUR. 


'  Oh,  let  me  emulate  the  good  and  wise  ; 

Gaze  on  their  course,  and  mark  their  way, 
Until  my  mind  and  soul,  like  theirs,  may  rise — 
Bathed  in  the  light  of  Heavenly  day  !" 


AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 

I  5O  NASSAU  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


PREFACE. 


EMULATION  is  the  spirit  most  desirable 
to  arouse  in  the  young.  What  of  per- 
sonal progress  and  relative  usefulness 
has  been  effected  by  others,  is  always 
a  valuable  and  inspiriting  study.  That 
which  we  are  constrained  to  approve  and  admire  we 
are  led  to  emulate,  even  where  imitation  may  not 
be  possible.  The  sterling  qualities  which  made  a 
character  excellent,  still  more  than  the  mental 
powers  which  made  it  remarkable,  convey  lessons 
for  instruction  and  encouragement  that  all  can 
apply. 

It  is  with  this  purpose  that  the  following  varied 
selections  of  womanly  worth  and  wisdom  are  pre- 


VI 


PREFACE. 


sen  ted  to  the  young  of  their  own  sex,  in  the  hope 
that  studious  habits,  intellectual  pursuits,  domestic 
industry,  and  sound  religious  principles,  may  be 
promoted  and  confirmed  by  such  examples. 


CLARA  LUCAS  BALFOUR. 


Groyilon,  1877. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  pAGE 

I.  MRS.  MARY  SOJIERVILLE 1 

II.  CHARLOTTE  ELLIOTT 21 

III.  CAROLINE  HERSCHEL      ......  32 

IV.  ELIZABETH  SJIITH ^7 

V.  AMELIA  OVIE 72  • 

VI.  SARAH  MARTIN  AXU  THE  LAST  DUCHKSS  or  GORDON    90 
VII.  JAMS  AND  A^KJi  TAYLOR  (Mas.  GILBERT)     .        .  108 


'V/OJVIEN   WOF(TH 


CHAPTER  I. 

MRS.     M.ARY     SOMERVILLE. 

HE  records  of  biography  are  not 
always  encouraging  to  all  minds. 
The  talents  seem  so  great,  the 
education  and  opportunities  so  ad- 
vantageous, that  ordinary  readers 
are  apt  to  say,  "  Of  what  use  is  it 
that  I  study  such  a  life  ?  It  is 
quite  beyond  my  range,  both  in 
gifts  and  graces.  Coming  from  the 
contemplation  of  such  excellence, 
or  such  training,  I  am  not  roused 
but  depressed." 

This  is  not  by  any  means  a  feeling  that  should  be 
encouraged.  There  are  mental  heights  we  may  not 
ever  scale,  yet  it  is  well  to  know  of  those  who  have, 


2  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

and  in  struggling  upward  we  are  strengthened  even 
by  the  effort.  As  the  feeblest  climber  on  a  mountain- 
side gets  wider  views  at  every  step  and  breathes 
a  more  exhilarating  air,  winning  some  increase  of 
vigour  by  the  effort,  so  we  dwellers  on  the  more 
level  plain  of  humanity  gain  in  mental  perception 
and  moral  force,  when  we  contemplate  the  recorded 
progress  of  those  who  have  gained  the  lofty  heights 
of  scientific  investigation,  benefited  their  age,  and 
done  honour  to  womanhood. 

One  reflection  may  well  reconcile  us  to  the  sur- 
passing triumphs  of  some  of  whom  we  read  with  a 
humbling  sense  of  our  own  deficiencies,  it  is,  that 
however  literary  and  scientific  triumphs  may — as  a 
general  thing,  must — be  beyond  our  range  and  re- 
moved from  our  imitation,  there  is  a  path  which  we 
all  can  strive  to  tread,  and  where,  when  we  are  yet 
"  a  great  way  off,"  one  All-seeing  Eye  beholds  us, 
one  Almighty  Hand  is  stretched  out  to  guide  us. 
Only  let  us  ask  from  the  depths  of  our  heart  for 
help  in  treading  the  narrow  path  that  leads  to  life 
eternal,  and  it  will  surely  be  given ;  for  "  He  hath 
promised  who  is  faithful." 

This  consolatory,  this  ennobling  thought  enables 
us  to  delight  in  all  the  varied  manifestations  of  ex- 
cellence with  which  the  Almighty  has  benefited  the 
world.  We  praise  Him  for  the  beauty  He  has 
spread  around  in  the  natural  world,  to  lead  our 
thoughts  to  Him ;  and  still  more  should  we  praise 
Him  for  the  endowments  He  has  given  in  the  human 


MKS.    MARY    SOMEEVILLE.  0 

woi-ld,  to  men  and  women  who  have  lived  and 
laboured  and  taught  among  us. 

To  see  God  in  all  things,  and  to  praise  Him  for 
all  His  gifts  to  mankind,  is  the  hallowed  duty  and 
privilege  of  the  young  Christian.  It  is  in  this 
grateful  frame  of  mind  that  we  should  read  of  the 
wise  and  good ;  and  if,  amid  much  that  is  beyond 
our  imitation,  either  in  the  possession  or  application 
of  special  faculties,  yet  there  should  be  some  sweet 
lessons  of  love  and  duty  that  come  home  to  the 
ordinary  pursuits  and  business  of  life,  the  interest 
will  be  increased,  and  the  teaching  of  the  life  more 
valuable. 

In  the  year  1783  there  was  a  healthy,  merry, 
beautiful  little  girl  of  three  years  old  (the  daughter 
of  an  ancient  family)  running  about  on  the  links  at 
Burntisland,  on  the  coast  of  Fife,  opposite  Edinburgh. 
Though  well  born,  it  was  necessary  that  Mrs.  Fair- 
fax should  live  with  great  economy  during  the 
absence  of  her  husband,  an  officer  in  the  navy,  who 
had  nothing  but  his  pay  to  depend  on.  In  their 
retirement,  therefore,  her  little  daughter  had  no 
companions  in  her  own  rank  of  life  but  an  elder 
brother,  who  went  early  to  the  Edinburgh  High 
School;  no  luxurious  indulgences,  and  certainly  very 
little  attention  from  servants.  She  ran  about  at 
her  own  will,  and  made  her  own  amusements.  The 
child  was  not  fond  of  dolls  or  toys,  she  found  her 
childish  pleasures  in  gathering  wild-flowers,  wander- 
ing on  the  sea-shore  watching  the  birds,  and  the 


4  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

sea,  and  the  clouds ;  she  was  truly  nature's  play- 
fellow, yet  always  active  and  willing  to  be  useful. 
Perhaps  the  first  feeling  roused  in  her  infant  mind 
was  love  for  the  feathered  race,  and  tenderness  to 
all  dumb  creatures,  of  whom  she  made  companions. 
Some  banks  of  thistles  and  groundsel  that  inter- 
sected the  more  cultivated  ground  at  Mrs.  Fairfax's 
abode  attracted  multitudes  of  goldfinches  and  other 
birds,  and  a  deep  love  for  them  sprang  up  in  the 
child's  heart,  which  remained  with  her  to  the  end 
of  her  long  life.  Happy  the  child  who  early  learns 
to  love  and  protect  the  animal  creation.  It  is  the 
beginning  of  good  feelings,  which  soften  the  heart 
and  elevate  the  mind. 

But  little  Mary  Fairfax,  while  leading  a  seem- 
ingly very  careless  childhood,  soon  began  to  be  use- 
ful in  household  matters.  At  seven  or  eight,  she 
pulled  fruit  for  preserving,  shelled  peas,  fed  the 
poultry,  and  made  experiments  in  bottling  goose- 
berries. She  was  also  taught  by  her  good  mother 
to  read  the  Bible,  and  to  say  her  simple  prayers, 
morning  and  evening.  Up  to  ten  years  of  age  there 
could  not  have  been  any  child  among  the  ranks  of 
the  gentry  less  instructed  in  all  book  knowledge. 
But  her  physical  education  was  excellent.  Plenty 
of  exercise  and  plain  food  confirmed  her  health ;  and 
for  moral  culture,  strict  veracity  and  great  kind- 
ness were  the  wholesome  foundations  on  which  her 
character  was  built. 

Mrs.  Somerville   says  in  her  own  beautiful  and 


MRS.    MARY    SOMERVILLE.  O 

simple  biographic  sketch,*  "  My  father  came  home 
from  sea  and  was  shocked  to  find  me  such  a  savage. 
I  had  not  yet  been  taught  to  write ;  and  although  I 
amused  myself  by  reading  '  The  Arabian  Nights,' 
'  Eobinson  Crusoe/  and  '  The  Pilgrim's  Progress/ 
I  read  very  badly."  Being  compelled  to  read  aloud 
to  her  father  was,  she  says,  " a  real  penance"  to 
her;  but  when  she  was  allowed  to  help  him  in  his 
favourite  recreation  of  gardening,  she  found  a 
pleasure  that  compensated  for  her  bookish  toils. 
At  length  Captain  Fairfax  said  to  his  wife,  "  This 
kind  of  life  will  never  do  ;  Mary  must  at  least  know 
how  to  write  and  keep  accounts ; "  and  so  she  was 
sent  off  to  a  boarding-school  at  Musselburgh.  As 
boarding-schools  were  then,  this  was  a  dreadful 
change  to  the  poor  child.  Her  lithe  little  form, 
straight  as  an  arrow,  which  had  been  used  to  roam- 
ing the  mountain-side,  was  soon  cased  in  stiff  stay^, 
with  steel  busk  and  collar  to  form  her  shape  (deform 
it,  more  likely);  a  dreary  page  of  Johnson's  Diction- 
ary was  given  her  to  learn,  and  dull  lessons  followed 
on  first  principles  of  writing,  and  rudiments  of 
grammar.  She  adds,  "  The  teaching  was  ex- 
tremely tedious  and  inefficient." 

You  young  people  of  the  present  day,  with  your 
capital  books  and  excellent  teachers,  need  to  be 
reminded  of  what  education  was,  even  for  the  upper 
classes,  in  the  days  of  your  immediate  ancestors. 

*  See  introduction  to  the  life  of  Mrs.  Somerville,  by  her 
daughter,  p.  20. 


O  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

For  this  reason  I  have  given  you  this  brief  sketch 
of  the  early  childhood  of  one  who  attained  the  very 
first  ranks  among  the  scientific  investigators  and 
benefactors  of  her  age, — an  age,  be  it  remembered, 
eminent  beyond  all  that  have  preceded  it  in  scien- 
tific discoveries  and  advancement.  There  have 
been  times  when  some  were  mental  giants,  simply 
because  their  compeers  were  pigmies.  That  was  not 
the  case  in  the  times  that  produced  the  Herscheid, 
James  Watt,  George  Stephenson,  Davy,  Faraday, 
and  a  host  of  others.  \ 

The  Musselburgh  schooldays  lasted,  fortunately, 
only  a  year.  At  the  age  of  eleven,  the  illness  of 
Mrs.  Fairfax  called  her  young  daughter  home  ;  and 
it  pained  the  child's  grateful  heart  that  her  pro- 
gress at  school  was  so  slight,  that  when  a  letter 
came  from  a  relative  she  could  "neither  compose 
an  answer  nor  spell  the  words ; "  and  she  was  re- 
proached for  having  cost  so  much — the  school 
terms  had  been  high — and  learned  so  little. 

Naturally  shy  and  retiring,  no  one  knew  what 
Was  passing  in  the  poor  little  girl's  mind  ;  but  she 
well  remembered  in  after-life  how  she  mourned 
over  her  ignorance,  and  how  intently  she  desired 
to  attain  knowledge.  This  was  a  salutary  state  of 
feeling,  especially  when,  as  in  her  case,  there  was  a 
strong  spirit  of  perseverance ;  with  her,  indeed,  it 
was  so  strong  that,  in  her  own  very  humble  esti- 
mate of  her  powers,  she  always  placed  perseverance 
as  her  greatest  characteristic.  And,  my  dear  young 


MRS.    MARY    SOMERVILLB.  7 

readers,  it  is  a  great  truth  that  what  we  call 
"  Genius,"  and  talk  about  vaguely  as  if  it  was  a 
something  that  exonerated  its  possessor  from  the 
need  of  patient,  careful  plodding,  is  in  reality  the 
power  to  take  great  pains ;  to  go  over  and  over 
again  in  some  hard  study,  some  toilsome  work  until 
it  ceases  to  be  hard  or  toilsome.  In  mental  as  in 
spiritual  things,  the  Scripture  maxim  applies — 
"Patient  continuance  in  well-doing;"  that  which 
the  word  perseverance  comprehends,  and  which  is, 
indeed,  the  true  element  of  success  in  all  things. 

A  child  who  felt  her  ignorance  a  sorrow,  and 
whose  spirit  was  of  the  kind  indicated,  would  soon 
overcome  her  difficulties.  She  did  not  allow  her 
likes  or  dislikes  to  influence  her;  but  with  great 
docility  resolved  to  learn  all  she  could.  From  her 
active  habits,  needlework  was  not  pleasant  to  her ; 
and  an  aunt,  in  Scottish  phrase,  once  said,  "  Maiy 
does  not  shew  (sew)  any  more  than  if  she  were  a 
man."  Nevertheless,  she  set  herself  to  overcome 
her  repugnance,  and  became  skilful  with  her  needle, 
both  in  plain  and  fancy  work. 

A  piano  came  to  her  home,  and  she  began  to 
learn  music,  which  was  then  very  imperfectly 
taught;  but  she  rose  in  the  morning  and  practised 
so  sedulously  that  she  speedily  gained  a  facility 
which  her  family  rejoiced  in,  for  no  accomplishment 
in  a  country  house  is  more  likely  to  delight  a  home 
circle.  But,  unhappily,  the  shyness  of  the  young 
pianist  always  prevented  her  in  early  days  doing 


8  WOMEN    -WOETH    EMULATING. 

justice  to  herself.  Meanwhile,  she  learned  to  writ.o 
a  good  hand,  and  made  some,  not  great,  progress  in 
arithmetic.  The  little  French  she  had  been  taught 
at  school  she  added  to  by  puzzling  out  and  trans- 
lating from  French  books,  by  herself,  and  so  almost 
insensibly  acquired  a  reading  knowledge  of  the 
language. 

One  day,  at  the  house  of  a  friend,  as  she  was  look- 
ing in  a  magazine  of  a  fashionable  kind  for  a  pattern 
of  ladies'  work,  she  came  upon  some  letters  oddly 
arranged-1 — an  algebraic  problem.  Asking  the  mean- 
ing, she  heard  the  word  Algebra  for  the  first  time. 
She  thought  about  the  word  and  took  every  oppor- 
tunity that  her  great  diffidence  permitted  to  get 
further  explanation.  She  was  told  of  the  need  of 
arithmetic  in  the  higher  branches  and  mathematics. 
She  thought  that  some  books  in  the  home  library 
might  help  her,  and  so  she  pored  over  some  books 
of  navigation ;  and  though  she  made  very  little  pro- 
gress in  what  she  wanted  to  know,  she  learned 
enough  to  open  her  mind  to  the  value  of  solid 
studies  and  to  interest  her  in  them.  Meanwhile,  from 
some  elementary  books,  probably  her  brother's,  she 
began  to  teach  herself  Latin,  and  with  no  help  of 
regular  instruction  learned  enough  to  enable  her  to 
read  Cesar's  Commentaries,  and  to  feel  an  interest 
in  her  reading. 

Her  habit  of  early  rising  was  her  great  help,  and 
enabled  her  to  pursue  her  studies  unmolested.  She 
was  very  diligent  in  performing  all  that  she  was 


MRS.    MARY    SOMERVILI.E.  9 

required  to  do  in  her  daily  domestic  avocations,  so 
that  no  fault  could  be  found  with  her  for  neglecting 
anything  required  of  her  in  the  ordinary  pursuits  oj: 
life.  Thus  the  lonely  little  student  went  on  with  her 
studies,  until  her  progress  was  so  considerable  that 
when  on  a  visit  to  her  uncle,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Somerville, 
he  found  she  had  grounded  herself  both  in  Latin 
and  Greek.  He  gave  her  books,  and  what  was 
better,  a  word  of  encouragement,  and  she  at  length 
possessed  a  Euclid,  and  advanced  into  mathematics. 

The  word  of  encouragement  must  have  been  in- 
deed precious  from  its  rarity.  She  was  not  only 
laughed  at  but  censured  for  the  studies  she  applied 
herself  to;  "going  out  of  the  female  province"  was 
then  the  common  phrase  of  disapproval.  Poor  girl ! 
it  was  to  her,  as  it  has  been  to  multitudes  in  the  old 
times  of  darkness  and  prejudice,  a  strange  thing  to 
find  that  the  world  recognised  ignorance  as  the 
female  province. 

However,  she  persevered  in  all  gentleness,  yet 
with  ceaseless  energy.  No  one  could  say  that  she 
neglected  any  ladylike  acquirements.  Her  skill 
with  the  pencil  was  so  marked  that  she  was  per- 
mitted to  have  some  good  instruction,  and  she 
studied  under  an  eminent  master  in  Scotland, 
attaining  such  proficiency  that  her  paintings  and 
drawings  during  her  whole  life  were  much  admired, 
and  she  never,  even  in  extreme  old  age,  entirely 
laid  aside  that  delightful  art.  Once  in  her  youth, 
on  her  skill  being  spoken  of  in  the  presence  of  a 


10  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

rather  harsh  old  lady,  the  latter  remarked,  with 
more  frankness  than  politeness,  "  I  am  glad  that 
Miss  Fairfax  has  any  kind  of  talent  that  may  enable 
her  to  win  her  bread,  for  every  one  knows  she  will 
not  have  a  sixpence." 

When  she  grew  up  and  was  introduced  more  fre- 
quently into  society, — her  father  having  greatly 
distinguished  himself  in  a  naval  victory,  and  gained 
promotion, — she  was  much  admired,  not  only  for 
her  personal  attractions,  which  were  a  natural  gift, 
but  for  the  charm  of  her  manners,  her  sweet  voice, 
"and  many  graceful  accomplishments.  Of  slight 
figure,  small  stature,  and  delicately  fair  complexion, 
she  looked  the  embodiment  of  youth  and  feminine 
refinement. 

She  was  naturally  much  sought  after,  even 
though  her  severe  studies  and  varied  attainments 
were  so  little  understood  as  to  be  regarded  rather 
as  an  eccentricity,  merely  to  be  treated  with  indul- 
gence, as  the  strange  caprice  of  a  lovely  girl  left 
much  to  herself,  and  allowed  to  employ  her  leisure 
in  her  own  peculiar  way. 

Mr.  Samuel  Greig,  a  connection  of  her  mother's 
family,  and  Commissioner  of  the  Eussian  Navy  and 
Russian  Consul  for  Britain,  paid  a  visit  to  Admiral 
and  Mrs.  Fairfax,  which  ended  in  his  proposing  for 
the  hand  of  their  daughter,  and  being  accepted. 
Miss  Fairfax  was  then  in  her  twenty -fourth  year, 
and  the  preparations  for  her  marriage  were  made 
on  a  scale  of  economy  very  unusual  in  her  rank  in 


MRS.    MARY    SOMERVILLE.  11 

these  extravagant  days.  She  says,  "Fortune  I 
had  none,  and  my  mother  could  only  afford  to  give 
me  a  very  moderate  trousseau,  consisting  chiefly  of 
fine  personal  and  household  linen.  When  I  was 
going  away,  she  gave  me  twenty  pounds  to  buy  a 
shawl  or  something  warm  for  the  winter.  I  knew 
that  Sir  Arthur  Shee,  of  the  Academy  of  Paintings, 
had  painted  a  portrait  of  my  father  immediately 
after  the  battle  of  Camperdown,  and  I  went  to  see 
it.  The  likeness  pleased  me ;  the  price  was  twenty 
pounds ;  so,  instead  of  a  warm  shawl,  I  bought  my 
father's  picture." 

It  is  pleasant  to  read  that  soon  after  she  had 
warmed  her  heart  by  possessing  this  treasure,  she 
had  a  gift  of  furs  presented  to  her  by  her  husband's 
brother. 

In  many  sketches  of  this  lady's  life  it  was  said 
that  her  first  husband  directed  her  studies,  and 
aided  her  in  what  became  her  favourite  pursuits. 
This  was  very  generally  received  and  repeated  as 
a  truth ;  but  in  the  work  on  her  mother's  life,  by 
Miss  Martha  Somerville,  this  is  positively  contra- 
dicted. Mr.  Greig  is  said  not  to  have  admired  learn- 
ing in  women,  and  that  he  loved  his  charming  wife 
in  spite  of,  and  not  for,  her  intellectual  attainments. 
The  entire  absence  of  all  assumption,  her  manners 
and  conversation,  disarmed  the  prejudice  which  then 
was  felt  at  any  unusual  mental  gifts. 

It  is  noticeable  that  in  every  period  of  her  life 
this  lady  was  a  learner.  I  think  that  is  why  she 


12  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING, 

kept  her  faculties  so  bright  through  the  long  life 
that  was  granted  her.  When  a  young  bride  in 
London,  she  took  the  opportunity  of  obtaining 
lessons  from  a  French  lady,  and  perfected  herself  in 
that  language.  Afterwards  she  studied  German 
and  Italian,  and  all  this  with  the  motive  of  reading 
the  works  of  scientific  men  in  those  languages. 

Her  married  life  lasted  only  three  years,  and 
she  was  left  a  widow,  with  two  little  sons,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-seven.  Shattered  in  health  by  her 
trials,  she  returned  to  Scotland  to  her  parents' 
house,  and  found  consolation  in  the  care  of  her 
children,  and  after  a  time,  in  pursuing  her  studies. 
As  she  was  now  independent,  no  one  could  prevent 
her  so  employing  herself  in  her  retirement,  and 
for  five  years  she  continued  her  scientific  re- 
searches. There  were  none  to  praise — that  she  did 
not  require,  knowledge  being  to  her  its  own  re- 
ward ;  but  there  seem  to  have  been  many  to 
wonder  and  to  blame.  However,  her  kind  uncle, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Somerville,  who  had  first  shown  his 
sympathy  with  her  tastes  and  pursuits,  always  stood 
her  friend ;  and  his  son,  a  medical  man,  became  her 
second  husband  in  1812,  to  the  great  joy  of  most 
of  the  family. 

The  following,  showing  the  rudeness  that  pre- 
judice sometimes  engenders,  is  recorded  in  Mrs. 
Somerville's  biography :  "  I  received  a  most  imper- 
tinent letter  from  one  of  his  (Dr.  Somerville's) 
sisters,  who  was  unmarried,  and  younger  than  I, 


MRS.    MARY    SOHERVILLE.  13 

saying  she  hoped  I  '  would  give  up  my  foolish  man- 
ner of  life  and  studies,  and  make  a  respectable 
and  useful  wife  to  her  brother.' "  This  strange 
presumption,  though  it  was  freely  forgiven,  yet 
created  a  coldness  and  reserve  ever  after. 

It  was  a  singular  fact  in  the  history  of  Mary 
Fairfax  that  she  was  born  at  her  Uncle  Somerville' s 
house,  and  Mrs.  Fairfax  being  extremely  ill,  she 
was  taken  by  her  aunt,  who  had  an  infant  at  the 
time,  and  nursed  by  her,  and  was  ever  regarded  as 
a  daughter  of  the  house  before  she  formed  the 
marriage  which  made  her  so. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Somerville,  speaking  of  his  son's 
marriage,  says,  "Miss  Fairfax  had  been  born  and 
nursed  at  my  house,  her  father  being  abroad  at  the 
time  on  public  service.  She  afterwards  often  re- 
sided in  my  family,  was  occasionally  my  scholar, 
and  was  looked  upon  by  me  and  my  wife  as  if  she 
had  been  one  of  our  own  children.  I  can  truly  say, 
that  next  to  them  she  was  the  object  of  our  most 
tender  regard.  Her  ardent  thirst  for  knowledge, 
her  assiduous  application  to  study,  and  her  eminent 
proficiency  in  science  and  the  fine  arts,  have  pro- 
cured her  a  celebrity  rarely  obtained  by  any  of  her 
sex.  But  she  never  displays  any  pretensions  to 
superiority,  while  the  affability  of  her  temper 
and  the  gentleness  of  her  manner  afford  constant 
sources  of  gratification  to  her  friends." 

The  marriage  proved  in  all  respects  happy.  Dr. 
Somerville  entered  with  zeal  into  all  his  wife's 


14  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

studies ;  indeed,  he  was  himself  devoted  to  scienti- 
fic pursuits,  both  in  his  profession  as  a  physician 
and  in  his  leisure  hours.  He  was  a  tender  and 
generous  step-father  to  the  one  surviving  son  of  his 
wife's  first  marriage.  There  were  three  daughters 
of  the  second  marriage — Margaret,  Martha,  and 
Mary.  The  first,  to  her  parents'  great  grief,  died  in 
early  life ;  the  two  latter  survived  to  be  the  tender 
ministers  to  their  mother's  declining  years,  her 
literary  helpers,  and  biographers. 

The  life  of  Mrs.  Somerville,  from  the  time  of  her 
second  marriage,  is  but  a  happy  record  of  her  scientific 
achievements ;  and  the  publication  of  her  valuable 
books.  One  trouble  came — a  loss  of  fortune,  which 
compelled  them  to  remove  from  their  house  in 
Hanover  Square,  and  made  Dr.  Somerville  accept 
the  post  of  physician  to  Chelsea  Hospital,  in  1827, 
and  take  up  his  abode  there.  The  residence  never 
suited  Mrs.  Somerville's  health,  but  she  employed 
herself  with  characteristic  perseverance  and  cheer- 
fulness. 

In  1831,  she  brought  out  her  "  Mechanism  of 
the  Heavens."  This  was  followed  by  her  chief 
work,  "  The  Connection  of  the  Physical  Sciences," 
which  ran  through  several  editions,  and  became  a 
class  book  at  our  universities. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  that  I  met  with 
that  book  in  a  very  remote  region.  At  the  little 
town  of  St.  Just,  at  the  extreme  west  point  of 
England,  near  Cape  Cornwall,  a  Literary  and  Me- 


MRS.    MARY    SOMERVILLE.  15 

chanics'  Institution  was  built,  which  I  visited  in 
1850.  Being  shown  into  the  library,  I  took  up  a 
book  that  was  lying  on  the  table,  and  found  it  was 
"  The  Connection  of  the  Physical  Sciences/'  and  its 
worn  binding  and  well-thumbed  pages  bore  evi- 
dence of  its  having  been  largely  circulated  amongst 
working-class  readers.  I  thought  it  a  great  tribute 
to  the  value  of  the  book,  and  equally  an  evidence 
of  the  intelligence  of  Cornish  working-men. 

After  some  years,  these  first  works  were  followed 
by  her  "  Physical  Geography  ; "  and  when  old  age 
had  settled  down  upon  her,  she  wrote  "Molecular 
and  Microscopic  Science."  Honours  came  from 
foreign  lands,  as  well  as  from  learned  Societies  at 
home.  She  was  elected  Honorary  Member  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  the  same  year  that 
a  similar  honour  was  conferred  on  Miss  Caroline 
Herschel,  the  sister  and  aunt  of  the  two  eminent 
astronomers  Sir  William  and  Sir  John  Herschel — 
herself  no  less  eminent.  The  Koyal  Theresa  Aca- 
demy of  Science  elected  Mrs.  Somerville  a  member ; 
and  Geographical  Societies,  both  in  Britain  and  on 
the  Continent,  enrolled  her  honoured  name  in  their 
lists. 

.Her  correspondence  was  very  large  with  all  the 
eminent  literati  of  her  time,  and  she  enjoyed  the 
friendship  of  the  distinguished  men  and  women  who 
made  the  intellectual  society  of  the  age. 

A  pension  of  two  hundred  pounds  a  year  for  her 
life  was  well  bestowed  during  Sir  Robert  Peel's  time 


16  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

of  office;  and,  her  health  requiring  change,  she 
went  to  the  Continent  with  Dr.  Somerville  and 
their  daughters.  After  making  many  excursions 
to  different  cities  and  kingdoms,  the  family  finally 
settled  down  in  Italy.  At  Rome,  Florence,  Naples, 
and  Geneva,  Mrs.  Somerville  in  turn  resided,  al- 
ways actively  employed  in  every  good  work — the 
anti-slavei-y  question,  the  freedom  and  unification 
of  Italy,  the  abolition  of  the  horrors  of  vivisection, 
as  practised  by  foreign  surgeons  under  the  specious 
name  of  scientific  investigation,  and,  alas  !  coming 
into  our  own  Schools  of  Anatomy.  Ever  this  detest- 
able cruelty  found  in  her  a  stern  opponent.  Education 
for  the  poor,  and  especially  a  more  liberal  educa- 
tion for  women,  called  all  her  energies  into  exercise 
long  after  she  had  reached  her  eightieth  year. 

Her  beloved  husband,  full  of  years  and  honours, 
passed  away  some  time  before  her  own  death ;  but 
though  bereaved  and  stricken,  she  was  patient  and 
resigned.  Her  daughters  were  not  only  her  chil- 
dren, but  her  companions  and  friends — one  in  heart 
and  mind.  So  years  passed  on,  not  withering,  but 
ripening  all  the  hallowed  graces  of  the  mind  and 
soul  in  Mary  Somerville.  Though  she  lived  to  be 
ninety-two,  it  can  scarcely  be  said  that  she  ever 
lost  her  youth,  her  intelligence  remaining  so  clear, 
her  spirits  so  fresh,  her  sympathies  so  active*  Able 
to  read  without  spectacles,  to  write  to  and  converse 
with  her  friends;  a  slight  deafness  and  a  little 
tremor  of  the  hands  alone  told  that  the  vital 


MRS.    MAEY    SOMKUV1LLB.  17 

energy  was  flagging,  while  her  soul  was  light  in 
the  Lord.  On  principle,  she  said  but  little  on  her 
religious  opinions,  and  never  entered  into  contro- 
versy ;  but  she  was  deeply  and  truly  devout.  One 
of  her  last  written  testimonies  was  :  "  Deeply  sensi- 
ble of  my  own  unworthiness,  and  profoundly  grate- 
ful for  the  innumerable  blessings  I  have  received,  I 
trust  in  the  infinite  mercy  of  my  Almighty  Creator. 
I  have  every  reason  to  be  thankful  that  my  intellect 
is  still  unimpaired ;  and  although  my  strength  is 
weakness,  my  daughters  support  my  tottering  steps, 
and  by  incessant  care  and  help  make  the  infirmities 
of  age  so  light  to  me  that  I  am  perfectly  happy." 

Surely  Goldsmith's  beautiful  simile  may  be  ap- 
plied to  this  venerable  lady, — 

"As  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale,  and  midway  leaves  the  storm; 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head." 

Without  pain  or  illness,  she  placidly  sank  and 
died  in  her  sleep,  on  the  morning  of  November 
29th,  1872.  She  was  buried  in  the  English  Campo 
Santo  at  Naples.  The  full  history  of  a  life  so  long 
and  so  active  would  be  the  history  of  an  age.  She 
had  known  all  the  troubles,  wars,  and  political  con- 
tests of  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  George  III. ; 
the  Regency ;  the  corrupt  reign  of  George  IV. ;  the 
better  times  of  King  William  IY.  and  his  amiable 
Queen  Adelaide,  who  honoured  Mrs.  Somerville 
with  kindly  appreciation;  the  accession  of  Queen 

c 


18 


WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 


Victoria,  our  beloved  sovereign,  whose  studious 
youth  had  been  familiarised  with  Mrs.  Somerville's 
writings,  and  whose  mental  attainments,  we  know, 
make  her  interested  in  promoting  the  knowledge 
of  science  and  literature  among  all  her  subjects. 
Such  an  indefatigable  life,  such  a  genial  old  age, 
and  such  a  peaceful  death,  are  the  lot  of  few ;  but 
we  who  can  but  look  with  admiration  on  such 
talents  may  emulate  and  imitate  her  virtues. 


CHAPTER  II. 

M.ISS    CHARLOTTE  ELLIOTT. 
STRENGTH  IN  WEAKNESS. 

• 

"  Here  will  I  watch  and  wait,  and  '  wish  for  day.' 
0  Rock  of  Ages  !  at  Thy  foot  I  stay ! 
Let  not  the  dashing  waves  unclasp  my  hold ! 
Let  mercy's  arms  my  trembling  form  enfold ; 
And  place  me  where  Thy  '  hidden  ones  '  repose, 
Till  the  new  earth  and  heaven  their  charms  disclose." 

CHABLOTTE  ELLIOTT. 

E  laws  of  health  are  now  so  much 
better  understood  than  they  formerly 
were,  and  all  sensible  women  and  girls 
attend  so  much  more  to  physical  train- 
ing and  open-air  exercise,  that  extreme 
delicacy  of  constitution  is  no  longer  con- 
sidered the  inevitable  inheritance  of  the 
female  half  of  the  human  race.  A  complex  and 
highly  sensitive  organization,  it  is  admitted,  re- 
quires extra  care  both  in  understanding  and  obey- 
ing wholesome  rules  of  diet,  dress,  occupation,  and 
relaxation.  The  three  cheap  physicians — water. 


22  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

air,  and  exercise — are  wisely  held  in  high  repute, 
and  employed  daily  by  all  who  wish  to  attain  or 
preserve  that  best  of  all  our  heavenly  Father's 
earthly  blessings — "  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound 
body." 

Still  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  inherited  maladies  or 
constitutional  defects  do  fall  to  the  lot  of  very 
many  of  the  female  sex.  The  common  phrase,  which 
has  passed  into  a  motto — "  The  suffering  sex  " — 
may  have  been,  and  I  think  was,  intended  to  apply 
to  the  sympathetic  mind  of  woman  quite  as  much 
as  to  the  body ;  though  it  is  more  generally  under- 
stood as  applying  to  the  latter.  It  still  describes 
the  physical  circumstances  of  great  numbers.  Life 
on  hard  conditions  is  their  lot ;  and  as  no  chastening 
in  immediate  endurance  is  otherwise  than  grievous, 
these  dear  invalids  have  the  tenderest  claims  on 
our  ready  help  and  affection.  If  they  are  precluded 
from  all  activity  of  either  mind  or  body,  the  greater 
responsibility  is  laid  on  those  around  them  who 
possess  the  blessing  of  health  to  cheer  and  lighten 
as  much  as  possible  the  burden  of  their  affliction. 
This  is  simply  a  Christian  duty ;  but  like  all  duties, 
the  more  diligently  and  cheerfully  it  is  performed 
the  sooner  it  becomes  a  delight,  and  brings  into 
the  pitying,  loving  heart  of  the  helpers  the  blessing 
of  Him  who  "  bore  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows." 

It  is  however  a  remarkable  and  interesting  fact, 
that  from  the  chambers  of  sickness  and  the  couch 


MISS    CHARLOTTE    ELLIOTT.  23 

of  suffering  have  come  not  only  some  of  the  most 
beautiful  examples  of  cheerful  resignation,  but  of 
active  mental  effort.  Lessons  have  been  taught  so 
sweet,  unselfish,  and  holy,  that  they  have  strength- 
ened the  healthy  and  braced  the  strong  in  their 
contest  with  the  inevitable  cares  and  trials  of  life. 

It  was  while  the  poet,  Miss  Elizabeth  Barrett 
(afterwards  Mrs.  Browning),  was  an  invalid,  carried 
from  bed  to  sofa  for  eight  years,  that  she  wrote  some 
of  the  most  spiritual  of  her  poems  and  sonnets.  The 
experiences  in  the  seclusion  of  her  sick  room  aided 
the  development  of  her  mind  and  the  strengthening 
of  her  religious  principles.  Not  books  merely, 
though  she  was  a  great  scholar,  but  solitude,  suffer- 
ing, and  self-communion  matured  that  fine  mind 
and  sublimated  that  sweet  spirit,  until  she  might 
be  said  in  her  sick  chamber  to  have  dwelt  with 
God. 

A  yet  more  memorable  instance  of  a  long  life 
of  suffering  consecrated  to  the  highest  uses,  was 
shown  in  the  case  of  the  sweetest  of  our  modern 
hymn-writers,  Miss  Charlotte  Elliott.  Her  life  is  a 
true  poem  in  its  harmony  of  thought  and  action,  of 
example  and  precept.  No  startling  incidents,  no 
elaborate  details,  are  presented  in  the  very  brief 
(too  brief)  memoir  which  a  surviving  sister^gave 
of  her  life  prefixed  to  a  recent  edition  of  her  poems ; 
but  the  account  is  all  the  more  instructive,  because 
God  led  His  faithful  servant  along  the  quiet, 
shadowed  path,  unseen  by  the  world — a  path  soon 


24  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

apparently  to  lead  by  painful  footsteps  into  the  dark 
valley.  But  the  weary  way  was  winding  and  very 
long,  and  the  end  was  slowly  gained,  which  was  a 
blessing  to  many.  The  overshadowing  wings  that 
were  spread  as  a  shelter  for  the  invalid  mercifully 
concealed  the  lengthening  road,  while  soft  whisper- 
ings of  angel  voices  echoed  through  the  sufferer's 
soul,  and  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding 
filled  her  heart. 

Thus  a  life  of  more  than  eighty-two  years  was 
permitted  to  one  who  had  from  early  youth  such 
feeble  health,  that  death  was  often  thought  to  be  im- 
pending". Surely  in  that  long  sojourn  in  the  outer 
vestibule  of  heaven,  she  must  have  caught  a  refrain 
of  its  songs  and  a  rich  foretaste  of  its  joys. 

Miss  Charlotte  Elliott  was  born  March  18th, 
1789,  the  third  daughter  of  a  family  that  were,  at 
the  end  of  the  last  century,  the  centre  of  a  circle 
known  and  esteemed  for  evangelical  principles  and 
deep  piety.  Charles  Elliott,  Esq.,  of  Clapham  and 
Brighton,  was  her  father ;  and  Mrs.  Elliott,  her 
mother,  was  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Venn, 
the  pious  vicar  of  Huddersfield  from  1760  to  1770. 
The  Rev.  John  Venn,  Rector  of  Clapham,  was  her 
uncle.  Indeed,  the  members  of  the  families  of  the 
Venns  and  Elliotts  were  well  known  throughout  the 
kingdom  as  leaders  of  that  evangelistic  movement 
which  sought,  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  the 
past  century,  to  revive  and  cherish  pure,  simple 
gospel  truth  in  the  teachings  of  the  Church  of 


MISS   CHARLOTTE    ELLIOTT.  25 

England,  and  to  commend  religion  to  the  people  as 
a  matter  of  the  heart  and  conscience, — not  of  forms 
and  ceremonies,  but  of  inward  conviction. 

Born  into  such  a  circle,  of  course  the  education  of 
the  gifted  child  Charlotte  was  carefully  attended  to, 
especially  in  those  matters  which  implant  principles 
and  form  character.  Her  literary  studies  were  sub- 
ject to  interruption  from  her  ill  health  every  winter. 
In  the  summer  months,  she  rallied,  and  was  able,  as 
childhood  merged  into  youth,  to  visit  friends  of  the 
family;  and  the  sweetness  of  her  disposition,  accom- 
panied and  embellished  by  the  charm  of  a  mind  rich 
in  natural  gifts,  made  her  very  precious  to  all  who 
knew  her. 

Early  in  life  her  conversation  was  greatly  prized 
by  the  limited  and  select  circle  who  were  favoured 
to  enjoy  it.  Fond  of  music  and  poetry,  with  fine 
taste,  a  good  memory  and  active  imagination,  she 
must  have  been  a  most  delightful  companion,  par- 
ticularly as  she  had  been  surrounded  from  her 
earliest  years  by  a  home  circle  whose  gifts  and 
attainments  made  them  sought  and  prized  wherever 
great  talents,  consecrated  by  religion  to  the  highest 
uses,  commanded  attention  or  won  regard. 

If  health  was  denied,  yet  all  the  compensations 
that  could  be  granted  in  loving  companionship  and 
intellectual  pursuits  were  mercifully  granted.  Still, 
those  only  know,  to  whom  the  monotony  of  the  sick 
room  is  often  appointed,  how  heavy  the  burden  is, 
and  how  it  presses  on  those  who  have  to  bear 


26  WOMEN   WORTH   EMULATING. 

it.  Each  must  bear  his  own  burden,  is  the  earthly 
sentence  on  the  sick  and  suffering.  Happy  those 
who  can  cast  their  care  on  the  Saviour,  and  realize 
that  He  careth  for  them. 

This  sweet  experience  was  not  gained  without 
an  effort,  even  by  so  spiritual  a  nature  as  Charlotte 
Elliott.  Let  none  of  my  young  readers  think  that 
the  careful  training  of  pious  parents,  the  possession 
of  a  gentle  temper  and  kindly  natural  disposition, 
will  be  enough  in  themselves,  to  secure  comfort 
during  the  tedious,  wearing  trials  of  oft-recurring 
or  long-continued  sickness.  It  needs  the  special 
grace  of  a  lively  faith  in  all  being  ordered  by  a 
heavenly  Father's  love,  before  the  blessing  is  fully 
realized  that  He  is  near  to  sustain  and  comfort,  and 
that  in  the  darkest  hour  His  voice  sounds  in  the 
depths  of  the  spirit,  "  It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid."  This 
triumph  over  bodily  affliction  is  only  gained  if,  and 
when,  it  has  been  earnestly  sought ;  and  so  we  read 
that  there  was  a  time  in  Charlotte  Elliott's  early 
youth  when  she  was  not  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  that 
hope  through  believing  which  alone  brings  peace. 

Her  opportunities  of  meeting  highly-intellectual 
people  in  circles  of  fashionable  life,  though  often 
restricted  by  delicacy  of  constitution,  were  yet 
frequent  enough  to  exercise  a  great  fascination  over 
her  mind,  and  might  have  led  her  to  prize  worldly 
amusements  and  intellectual  triumphs  as  a  chief 
good ;  in  which  case  there  must  inevitably  have 
followed  a  bitter  sense  of  hardship  and  loss,  when 


MISS    CHARLOTTE    ELLIOTT.  2.1 

she  was  laid  aside  and  deprived  of  such  amusements 
and  enjoyments.  But  she  was  mercifully  led  to  a 
higher  life.  With  pathetic  truth  does  she  say, 
"  He  knows,  and  He  alone,  what  it  is,  day  after  day, 
hour  after  hour,  to  fight  against  bodily  feelings  of 
almost  overpowering  weakness  and  languor  and 
exhaustion ;  to  resolve,  as  He  enables  me  to  do,  not 
to  yield  to  the  slothfulness,  the  self-indulgence,  the 
depression,  the  irritability  such  a  body  inclines  me 
to  indulge ;  but  to  rise  every  morning  determined 
on  taking  this  for  my  motto  :  '  If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up 
his  cross  daily,  and  follow  me/  '' 

It  was  this  spirit  of  patient  endurance  and  hal- 
lowed resignation  that  aided  her  to  give  to  all  who 
are  passing  through  deep  waters,  that  perfect  hymn, 

"  Thy  will  be  done." 

In  the  year  1821,  during  a  season  of  great  suffer- 
ing, she  became  deeply  conscious  of  sin — a  great 
mental  conflict  distressed  her.  Ah,  my  dear  young 
reader  !  we  must  know  ourselves  to  be  sinners,  be- 
fore we  can  turn  with  full  purpose  of  heart  to  Christ 
as  a  Saviour.  The  sin-sick  soul  must  know  and 
feel  that  it  is  sick,  before  it  hastens  to  seek  the  Great 
Physician.  This  part  of  Miss  Elliott's  experience 
is  of  great  use  to  us  far  less  advanced  Christians. 
It  was  this  deep  need  which  developed  in  her  mind 
those  lovely,  yearning,  submissive  thoughts  which 
are  expressed  in  her  beautiful  hymns. 


28  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

Dr.  Csesar  Malan,  of  Geneva,  on  the  9th  of  May, 
1 822,  came  to  her  aid  like  a  heavenly  messenger ;  as, 
indeed,  all  are  who  bring  light,  truth,  and  peace  to 
our  souls.  His  conversation  gave  her  new  views  of 
the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  That  day  she 
kept  as  the  birthday  of  her  soul — a  spiritual  anniver- 
sary ever  cherished,  as  also  was  the  friendship  and 
correspondence  with  Dr.  Malan  for  a  period  of  forty 
years. 

In  the  year  1823,  many  sad  bereavements  came, 
especially  the  death  of  a  beloved  sister;  and  it  was 
resolved  by  the  family  to  accept  an  invitation  to  the 
Continent,  and  try  an  entire  change  of  scene  : 
doubtless  with  benefit  to  mind  and  spirit,  but 
scarcely  with  any  permanent  improvement  of  health 
to  the  invalid. 

After  an  interval  of  some  years,  in  1834,  she 
formed  an  acquaintance  with  Miss  Harriet  Kiernan, 
of  Dublin,  a  lady  of  great  mental  and  spiritual 
attainments,  who  came  to  England  for  medical 
advice ;  which,  to  the  sincere  regret  of  Miss  Elliott, 
proved  unavailing,  for  in  less  than  a  year  she  died 
of  consumption.  Intercourse  with  this  like-minded 
Christian  friend  led  to  Miss  Charlotte  Elliott  under- 
taking the  editorship  of  a  little  annual  volume, 
"  The  Christian  Remembrancer,"  which  for  twenty- 
five  years  she  carefully  prepared  and  enriched 
with  original  contributions,  and  also  with  valuable 
selections. 

The  profits  of  this  work,  which  attained  a  large 


MISS    CHARLOTTE    ELLIOTT.  29 

circulation,  and  of  her  other  writings,  were  employed 
in  aiding  the  funds  of  Christian  institutions, — such 
as  the  Bible  Society,  and  kindred  plans  of  spreading 
the  gospel ;  while  her  private  benevolence  was  always 
active  to  the  utmost  extent  of,  and,  as  some  would 
think,  beyond  her  means. 

It  was  in  1835  that  she  wrote  the  exquisite  hymn 
so  justly  dear  to  every  humble  believer : 

"  Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea." 

This  first  appeared,  among  several  others,  in  a 
collection  of  poems  intended  chiefly  for  the  sick  room. 
With  characteristic  diffidence,  the  writer  shrunk 
from  being  known ;  and  it  must  have  been  a  hal- 
lowed joy  to  her  to  find  that  she  was  the  honoured 
instrument  of  impressing,  arousing,  and  comforting 
many.  Her  hymn  was  copied  out  by  several  of  her 
friends  and  correspondents,  and  sent  to  her  by 
many  who  did  not  know  that  she  was  the  author. 
It  was  speedily  translated  into  French,  Italian, 
German,  and  may  certainly  be  considered  a  priceless 
gem  in  our  rich  treasury  of  devotional  lyrics. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  Miss  Elliott  was 
a  most  constant  and  devout  Bible  student.  Passages 
of  Holy  Wr|t  form  so  often  the  refrain  of  her 
poems,  that  it  is  easy  to  see  that  her  mind  was 
constantly  filled  from  the  pure  fount  of  Bible 
truth. 

A  little  passage  that  she  wrote  in  her  own  private 
Bible  contains  a  valuable  lesson  to  all : — 


30  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

"  D!g  deep  into  this  precious  mine, 
Toil,  and  its  richest  ore  is  thine : 
Search,  and  the  Lord  will  lend  His  aid 
To  strew  its  wealth  from  its  mystic  shade : 
Strive,  and  His  Spirit  will  give  the  light 
To  work  in  the  heavenly  mine  aright. 
Pray  without  ceasing,  and  in  Him  confide, 
Into  all  truth  His  light  will  guide." 

When  weakness  prevented  her  attending  public 
worship,  she  found  a  sanctuary  in  God's  word  :  "  My 
Bible  is  my  church,"  she  said.  "  It  is  always  open, 
and  there  is  my  High  Priest,  ever  waiting  to  receive 
me.  There  I  have  my  confessional,  my  thanksgiving, 
my  psalms  of  praise,  a  field  of  promises,  and  a  con- 
gregation of  whom  the  world  is  not  worthy — pro- 
phets, apostles,  martyrs,  confessors ;  in  short,  all  I 
can  want  I  there  find."  What  a  blessing  it  is  that 
this  rich  treasure,  so  full  of  blessing  to  her,  is  ours 
also,  that  the  humblest  mind  may  receive  a  ray  from 
that  Divine  source  of  all  light  and  life.  Her  sister 
says  hers  was,  to  a  great  extent,  "  a  hidden  life,"- 
hid  with  Christ  in  God,  we  may  say.  But  as  the 
unseen  violet  is  known  and  tracked  by  its  fragrance, 
so  the  breathings  of  her  soul  have  come  to  us  in  her 
poems,  and  help  to  waft  our  thoughts  heavenward. 
We  feel  that  it  was  by  prayer  she  lived  and  sang 
her  sweet  strains.  We  hardly  need  to  be  told  that 
she  had  special  seasons  of  spiritual  communion 
with,  and  prayer  for,  absent  friends ;  special  times 
for  commending  works  of  faith  and  labours  of  love 
to  Him  who  alone  can  send  the  prospering  blessing, 


MISS   CHARLOTTE    ELLIOTT.  31 

and  who  has  revealed  Himself  as  the  hearer  and 
answerer  of  prayer. 

Thus  passed  what,  to  her  surprise,  as  to  that  of 
her  many  friends,  was  permitted  to  be  a  long  life. 
Many  bereavements — that  of  her  beloved  brother, 
Kev.  Henry  Venn  Elliott,  and  others — came  to  test, 
but  never  to  shake  her  faith.  Many  furnace  fires  of 
suffering  refined  the  pure  ore  of  Christian  principle 
from  the  dross  of  earthliness.  Many  changes  to  dis- 
tant lands  and  to  various  parts  of  her  own  country 
were  dutifully  tried,  in  search  of  what  was  never 
long  possessed — alleviation  of  bodily  suffering;  yet, 
amid  all,  her  soul  enjoyed  a  sweet  serenity,  and  she 
was  permitted  to  reach  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-two 
years.  On  the  22nd  of  September,  1871,  she  said, 
in  reply  to  one  who  quoted  the  words,  "  Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled,"  a  sweet  smile  beaming  on 
her  brow :  "  But  my  heart  is  not  troubled  " ;  and 
then  she  added,  "  My  mind  is  full  of  the  Bible/*  On 
the  evening  of  that  day,  at  ten  o'clock,  she  sank 
to  sleep  so  sweetly  that  those  around  could  not 
tell  the  minute  when  the  earthly  repose  ended  and 
the  heavenly  rest  was  won. 

"  SO    HE   GIVETH    HlS   BELOVED   SLEEP." 


CHAPTER   III. 

Liss     CAROLINE    WERSCHEL. 
(SOME  SISTERS  OF  MEMORABLE  MEN.) 

HERE  is  a  hallowed  charm  in  the  rela- 
tionship of  sister,  when  its  duties  are 
tenderly  felt  and  faithfully  fulfilled.  It 
has  often  been  remarked  that  young 
men,  who  have  grown  up  surrounded 
by  a  group  of  amiable  sisters,  or 
even  in  companionship  with  only  one 
who  possessed  a  loving  heart  and  gentle  mind, 
are  easily  known  by  their  superior  refinement 
and  their  deference  to  and  respect  for  women. 
"  I  knew  he  must  have  had  nice  sisters,"  is  a  fre- 
quent comment,  when  the  speech  and  deportment  of 
a  young  man  has  led  to  an  inquiry  as  to  his  family 
connections. 

I  do  not  say  that  many  a  young  man  has  not 
attained  mild,  considerate,  kindly  manners  who  has 
never  had  a  sister ;  but  I  hold  that  one  of  the  most 


STUDY   AND    WOBK. 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  35 

refining  educational  influences  is  possessed  in  fami- 
lies where  the  affection  and  innocent  gaiety  of  the 
girls  tempers  the  hardihood  and  roughness  of  the 
boys.  The  two  sexes  growing  up  together  in  the 
household  do  each  other  good.  The  sisters  gain 
in  frankness,  courage,  activity,  and  it  may  be,  in 
solid  intelligence,  if  the  boys  are  conscientious; 
while  the  brothers  become  more  considerate  in  act 
and  speech,  purer  and  gentler  in  thought  and 
word  and  action. 

The  sweet,  strong  bond  which  nature  knits  at 
birth  between  the  children  of  the  same  parents, 
nursed  at  the  same  bosom,  fondled  on  the  same  lap, 
kneeling  at  the  same  household  altar,  ought  to  be 
able  to  defy  the  changes  and  vicissitudes  of  life, 
although  these  affect  this  relationship  more  than 
any  other.  Sons  go  forth  to  battle  with  the  world, 
daughters  marry  and  enter  upon  other  and  nearer 
ties  and  responsibilities ;  still  the  heart  cannot  be 
quite  right  which  does  not  always  retain  and 
respond  to  the  first  early  claims — the  associations 
identified  with  childhood.  Sad  is  it  when  the  cares 
of  the  world  obliterate  the  tender  memories  of  early 
youth,  or  the  pride  of  life  dries  up  or  diverts  the 
fountains  of  affection  which  welled  forth  in  the 
home  of  childhood. 

To  some  true  hearts  this  kindred  tie,  when  it  has 
been  stretched  across  wide  oceans  to  far  distant 
lands,  has  bravely  borne  the  strain,  and  grown  the 
tighter  by  the  firm  clasp  with  which  at  each  end 


36  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

it  has  been  held.     Multitudes  might  and  do  echo 
the  kindly  words  of  Goldsmith — 

"  Where'er  I  roam,  whate'er  new  realms  I  see, 
My  heart,  untravelled,  fondly  turns  to  thee ; 
Still  to  my  brother  turns,  with  ceaseless  pain, 
And  drags  at  each  remove  a  lengthening  chain." 

In  literary  biography  there  are  many  memorable 
sisters  of  distinguished  men.  The  poet  Words- 
worth testified  as  to  the .  softening  influence  his 
sister,  Miss  Deborah  Wordsworth,  exerted  on  his 
mind  and  manners,  and  the  benefit  he  derived  from 
her  wise  criticisms.  From  his  own  experience  of 
a  relationship  that  never  was  interrupted  by  any 
newer  ties  on  Miss  Wordsworth's  part, — for  she 
lived  with  him  until  her  death,  and  as  long  as 
health  permitted,  devoted  herself  to  his  family, — 
from  tender  reverence  for  this  life-long  bond  of 
love,  so  precious  in  his  own  case,  the  poet  coiild 
deeply  appreciate  its  value ;  and  he  said  of  the 
quaint  essayist  and  his  sister — Charles  and  Mary 
Lamb — 

"  Thus,  'mid  a  shifting  world, 
Did  they  together  testify  of  time 
And  seasons'  difference— a  double  tree, 
With  two  collateral  stems  sprung  from  one  root." 

In  humble  life  there  have  been  most  worthy  in- 
stances of  sisterly  affection,  by  which  the  welfare 
of  brothers  has  been  so  promoted  as  to  aid  them  in 
their  upward  struggle  to  a  higher  position  of  life. 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  37 

Catherine  Hutton  is  a  memorable  case  in  point. 
William  Hutton,  the  successful  bookseller,  and 
valued  historian  of  the  important  town  of  Birming- 
ham, which  now  shines  like  a  star  in  the  midst  of 
England,  passed  through  as  sad  an  experience  of 
suffering  and  hardship  in  childhood  as  was  ever 
lived  through  and  triumphed  over. 

At  seven  years  of  age  the  poor  child  was  put  to 
work  in  a  silk-mill,  and  being  too  short  for  his 
hands  to  reach  the  machinery,  he  was  mounted  on 
high  pattens  to  pursue  his  toil.  Seven  years  of 
this  slavery  passed,  and  then,  the  boy  being  out  of 
his  time,  trade  was  bad,  and  he  could  not  get  em- 
ployment. He  was  again  bound  for  seven  years  to 
the  stocking  weaving,  a  relative  being  his  master, 
or  rather  his  tyrant.  Taunts  and  blows  were  his 
portion  in  his  second  apprenticeship.  His  mother 
was  dead,  and  his  father  drank;  one  only  heart 
yearned  to  the  motherless  boy,  and  that  was  his 
sister  Catherine's.  The  poor  boy  made  an  effort  to 
escape  from  his  tyrant,  by  running  away  when  he 
was  seventeen  years  of  age ;  and  his  narrative  of 
his  journey, — the  loss  of  his  bundle  of  clothes  con- 
taining all  he  had  in  the  world,  his  sleeping  on 
a  butcher's  block  at  night,  and  his  subsequent 
famished  wanderings,  is  as  affecting  as  any  record  of 
American  slavery.  His  brutal  uncle  was,  however, 
brought  to  own  the  value  of  the  lad's  services,  and 
promising  to  treat  him  better,  William  returned  and 
served  out  his  time. 


38  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

In  his  few,  very  few,  intervals  of  leisure,  and  by 
subtracting  from  the  hours  of  sleep  in  summer  morn- 
ings, William  HuttOn  managed  to  cultivate  his  mind; 
and  growing  fond  of  books,  he  also  began  a  little 
traffic  in  them  by  buying  a  book  for  his  own  read- 
ing and  then  selling  it  to  obtain  another.  By  tact 
and  shrewdness  he  managed  to  make  a  profit  out  of 
his  little  trading.  It  was  well  that  he  did;  for  on 
his  being  oat  of  his  time  as  a  stockinger — though 
he  worked  two  years  as  a  journeyman — trade 
was  bad  and  employment  uncertain,  and  so  he 
bought  himself  an  old  bookbinder's  press,  and 
taught  himself  enough  of  the  art  of  bookbinding  to 
renovate  the  shabby  and  tattered  books  which  alone 
he  had  the  means  to  purchase.  He  took  a  little 
shop,  and  his  sister  Catherine  came  to  live  with 
him ;  and  with  tender  gratitude  he  recounts : — 

"  I  set  off  at  five  every  Saturday  morning,  carried 
a  burden  of  from  three  pounds  weight  to  thirty, 
opened  shop  (or  stall)  at  ten,  starved  in  it  all  day 
upon  bread  and  cheese  and  half  a  pint  of  ale,  took 
from  one  to  six  shillings,  shut  up  at  four,  and  by 
trudging  through  the  solitary  night  and  deep  roads 
five  hours, 'I  arrived  at  Nottingham  by  nine,  where  I 
always  found  a  mess  of  milk  porridge  by  the  fire 
prepared  by  my  invaluable  sister." 

We  can  picture  the  welcome  and  the  smile  that 
greeted  the  weary,  foot-sore  man,  as  he  entered  his 
dwelling,  and  cannot  doubt  that  to  his  sister's  care 
and  kindness  it  was  due  that  his  health  and  life 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  39 

•were  preserved  in  his  hard  wrestle  with  fortune. 
The  tenderness  and  domestic  order  of  that  kind 
sister  kept  him  from  resorting  to  the  public-house, 
preserved  both  his  health  and  morals ;  and  he  knew 
and  owned  in  after-life,  when  he  became  a  thriving 
and  a  prosperous  man,  that  his  sister  had  been  a 
true  helper,  without  whose  aid  he  would  probably 
have  succumbed  to  the  hardship  of  his  lot. 

William  Hutton  was  not  merely  a  prosperous 
man,  he  was  good  in  all  the  various  relationships  of 
life,  and  he  lived  to  extreme  old  age. 

On  the  publication  of  his  "  History  of  Birming- 
ham," which  had  a  very  large  circulation,  he  was 
elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Antiquarian  Society  of 
Edinburgh.  Wealth  and  honours  followed ;  but  in 
wealth  as  in  poverty  he  retained  a  humble,  kindly, 
grateful  nature,  and  always  delighted  to  own  his 
great  obligations  to  his  sister  Catherine. 

Certainly  the  most  memorable  case  in  modern  bio- 
graphy of  sisterly  sympathy  and  help  is  furnished 
in  the  life  of  Miss  Caroline  Herschel,  of  whom  inci- 
dental mention  has  been  made  in  the  sketch  of  Mrs. 
Mary  Somerville.  The  splendour  of  the  name  o'f 
Herschel,  and  the  scientific  distinctions  attained 
by  Sir  William,  and  Sir  John  his  son,  might  throw 
into  complete  shade  the  early  history  of  the  family, 
and  thus  prevent  us  from  knowing  and  being  in- 
structed by  a  very  impressive  and  beautiful  domestic 
history,  only  that  the  recent  publication  of  the  life 


40  WOMEN    WOKTH    EMULATING. 

of  Miss  Herschel  *  throws  the  quiet  light  of  home 
on  the  narrative  of  the  scientific  progress  of  her 
distinguished  relatives. 

In  the  garrison  school  at  Hanover,  from  1739  to 
1755,  there  were  a  group  of  pupils  ranging  from  the 
age  of  two  to  fourteen,  the  elder  boys  of  whom  were 
noted  for  their  talents,  particularly  in  music.  Jacob, 
William,  and  John  had  all  been  well  instructed  at 
home  in  that  art  by  their  father,  a  musician  in  the 
Guards'  band.  But  this  good  father's  plans  for  the 
education  of  his  family  were  much  hindered  by  his 
ill  health.  He  was  a  martyr  to  asthma  and  rheu- 
matism, owing  to  the  hardships  he  had  endured  in 
war-time  with  the  army.  But  his  children  were  a 
great  compensation.  The  eldest,  Sophia,  went  away 
to  reside  with  a  family,  where  she  married  early  a 
musician  named  Griesbach ;  and  the  three  elder  boys 
soon  obtained  employment — Jacob  as  an  organist, 
and  William  and  John  in  the  band.  Their  bright- 
ness rather  threw  into  the  shade  the  fifth  child  of 
the  family,  Caroline,  a  little,  quiet,  plain-looking 
girl.  By  her  own  account,  she  was  not  much 
cared  for  in  the  busy  household,  some  of  whom — the 
eldest  sister  and  brother — were  certainly  selfish  and 
exacting.  But  there  was  one  brother,  William,  to 
whom  the  little  Caroline  always  firmly  attached  her- 
self with  all  the  strength  of  a  loving  heart,  sadly 
repressed  in  its  demonstrations.  William  had  always 

*  "  Memoir  and  Correspondence  of  Caroline  Herschel." 
By  Mrs.  John  Herschel. 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  41 

a  kind  look  and  word  for  his  little  sister,  which 
fell  on  her  heart  like  dew  upon  a  drooping  flower. 

There  was  a  younger  child  than  Caroline,  who 
completed  the  family  group,  Alexander,  a  fine  boy, 
the  care  of  whom  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  sister  five 
years  his  elder. 

Never  was  there  a  harder  worked  child  than 
Caroline  Herschel.  She  had  to  do  the  actual  drud- 
gery of  the  house,  and  in  her  life  calls  herself 
"  Cinderella," — running  errands,  nursing  the  baby, 
washing  up  after  meals,  mending  the  clothes,  filled 
all  the  time  that  she  was  not  at  the  garrison  school, 
which  of  course,  with  all  the  enforced  punctuality 
of  a  German  child,  she  attended.  It  is  affecting  to 
read  such  statements  as  the  following,  of  her  early 
recollections.  The  incident  occurred  before  she 
was  seven  years  of  age,  and  her  father  was  returning 
home  after  an  absence  : — 

"  My  mother  being  very  busy  preparing  dinner, 
had  suffered  me  to  go  alone  to  the  parade  to  meet 
my  father,  but  I  could  not  find  him  anywhere,  nor 
anybody  whom  I  knew;  so  at  last,  when  nearly  frozen 
to  death,  I  came  home  and  found  them  all  at  table. 
My  dear  brother  William  threw  down  his  knife  and 
fork,  and  ran  to  welcome  me,  and  crouched  down  to 
me,  which  made  me  forget  all  my  grievances.  The 
rest  were  so  happy  at  seeing  one  another  again,  that 
my  absence  had  never  been  perceived." 

In  another  place  she  says,  "  I  was  mostly,  when 
not  in  school,  sent  with  Alexander  to  play  on  the 


42  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

walls,  or  with  the  neighbours'  children,  in  which  I 
seldom  could  join ;  and  often  stood  freezing  on  the 
shore  to  see  my  brother  skating  till  he  chose  to  go 
home.  In  short,  there  was  no  one  who  cared  any- 
thing about  me." 

A  sad  testimony.  This  doubtless  had  the  effect 
of  concentrating  her  affection  on  the  one  brother 
who  did  care  something  for  her.  Her  father,  too, 
she  always  remembered  with  great  tenderness,  for 
he  perceived  some  talent  in  the  child,  and  taught 
her  a  little  music  and  singing,  —  not  with  his 
wife's  concurrence.  Mrs.  Herschel  was  a  toil-worn 
mother,  wearied  with  her  necessary  household  tasks. 
She  saw  that  her  eldest  daughter's  education  had 
not  made  her  helpful,  but  the  reverse;  that  her 
elder  sons'  talents  were  likely  to  cause  them,  as  they 
did,  to  leave  their  native  land  in  search  of  a  wider 
sphere  ;  therefore  she  was  resolute  to  prevent  little 
Caroline  having  any  but  the  humblest  and  plainest 
instruction — what  the  school  laws  prescribed,  and 
no  more. 

Thus  there  was  the  greatest  impediment  to  Caro- 
line's mental  progress  which  could  possibly  exist. 
A  child — a  daughter  especially — is  so  influenced  by 
a  mother's  feelings  and  prejudices,  that  it  is  one  of 
the  marvels  which  real  life  supplies,  more  strangely 
than  fiction  can  do,  that  this  little  hard-worked 
household  drudge  should  have  ever  emerged  from 
the  gloom  of  her  early  condition.  This  it  is  which 
makes  her  life  so  valuable ;  what  she  was,  quite  as 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  43 

much  as  what  she  did,  is  a  rich  legacy  of  instruc- 
tion to  all.  This  little  girl,  who  was  to  become  the 
greatest  female  astronomer  of  the  age,  was  a  capital 
knitter,  and  records  that  she  knitted  a  pair  of 
stockings  for  one  of  her  brothers,  which  when  done 
were  as  long  as  she  was  high. 

The  departure  of  the  two  eldest  brothers  for 
England  on  a  musical  tour  was  the  next  important 
event  in  the  family.  This  was  followed  by  the 
death  of  the  good  father,  to  the  deep  grief  of  his 
wife  and  children,  to  whom  he  left  "little  more 
than  the  heritage  of  a  good  example,  unblemished 
character,  and  those  musical  talents,  which  he  had 
so  carefully  educated,  and  by  which  he  probably 
hoped  the  more  gifted  of  his  sons  would  attain  to 
eminence." 

The  little  Caroline  was  thrown,  as  she  says,  into 
a  "  state  of  stupefaction  "  for  many  weeks  after  this 
bereavement.  All  hope  of  intellectual  improvement 
seemed  now  closed  to  her.  She  went  for  a  short 
time  to  learn  millinery  and  dressmaking,  but  this 
was  not  continued  long.  She  returned  to  her 
household  duties,  and  the  toiling  mother  was  con- 
stant at  her  spinning-wheel,  while  the  sons  were 
gaining  great  reputation  in  England,  particularly 
at  Bath,  where  William  was  mostly  resident. 

It  should  be  noted  that  from  William's  earliest 
years  he  had  shown  not  merely  musical  talent,  but 
a  great  mechanical  and  inventive  faculty.  His 
mind  had  a  wide  range,  and  he  could  study  Ian- 


44  WOMEN   WOETH    EMULATING. 

guages  and  mathematics,  and  yet  train  his  hands 
to  skill  in  mechanics.  He  was  never  idle,  but 
always  acquiring ;  indeed,  idleness  was  unknown 
in  the  family,  though  some  were  more  diligent  and 
far  more  unselfish  than  others. 

Thus  some  years  passed  on,  until  Caroline  was 
twenty- two,  when  there  came  a  letter  from  her 
brother  William,  proposing  that  she  should  join 
him  at  Bath.  He  remembered  her  voice  and  sing- 
ing, and  thought  by  his  instruction  he  might  make 
her  useful  for  his  winter  concerts  at  Bath.  She 
was  to  return  to  Hanover,  if  on  trial  she  did  not  suc- 
ceed. Her  eldest  brother  Jacob,  who,  as  she  said, 
had  never  heard  her  voice  except  in  speaking,  turned 
the  whole  scheme  into  ridicule.  But  stimulated  by 
the  hope  of  doing  something  to  aid  her  brother 
and  gain  a  living  for  herself,  she  began  to  study, 
practise,  and  prepare  herself.  Meanwhile,  in  the 
expectation  of  going  away,  she  knitted  as  many 
cotton  stockings  for  her  mother  and  youngest 
brother  "  as  would  last  two  years  at  least." 

In  the  August  of  1772,  her  brother  William  came 
to  see  his  mother,  and  take  Caroline  to  England. 
She  says,  "  My  mother  had  consented  to  my  going 
with  him,  and  the  anguish  of  my  leaving  her  was 
somewhat  alleviated  by  my  brother  settling  a  small 
annuity  on  her,  by  which  she  would  be  able  to  keep 
an  attendant  to  supply  my  place." 

What  a  journey  she  had  to  England  !  In  these 
days,  the  cheapest  train  and  steamer  take  a  pas- 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  45 

senger  to  the  Continent  in  comfort  in  a  few  hours ; 
then,  Miss  Herchel  travelled  six  days  and  nights  in 
an  open  postwagen,  and  then  embarked  at  Helvoet- 
sluys,  on  a  stormy  sea,  to  the  packet-boat,  two  miles 
distant ;  and  she  and  her  brother  were,  she  says, 
"  thrown  on  shore  by  the  English  sailors  like  balls, 
at  Yarmouth,  for  the  vessel  was  almost  a  wreck, 
without  a  main  and  another  of  the  masts." 

Her  troubles  were  not  over  on  landing ;  for  after 
a  hasty  breakfast,  brother  and  sister  mounted  some 
sort  of  cart,  to  take  them  to  the  place  where  the 
London  coach  passed.  They  were  upset  into  a 
ditch,  fortunately  dry,  and  came  off  with  only  a 
fright;  some  kind  fellow-passengers,  who  accom- 
panied them  to  London,  helping  them. 

Poor  Caroline  entered  the  metropolis  bareheaded, 
having  lost  her  hat,  amid  her  other  troubles  of  the 
way.  The  landlady  of  the  inn  in  the  city  lent  her 
a  bonnet,  and  thus  equipped,  she  made  one  short 
excursion,  to  see  something  of  the  metropolis. 
Curiously  enough,  among  all  the  fine  shops  she 
noticed  only  one  with  an  interested  and  longing 
gaze — it  was  an  optician's.  But  they  could  not 
linger.  That  same  night  saw  them  on  the  way  to 
Bath,  where  they  arrived,  she  says,  "  almost  an- 
nihilated, having  been  only  twice  in  bed  during 
their  twelve  days'  journey." 

,  It  must  have  been  a  strange  new  life  to  the  little 
German  girl  at  Bath.  Her  brother  William  was 
organist  at  the  Octagon  chapel,  director  of  the 


46  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

public  concerts,  and  as  a  teacher  of  music  lie  had  a 
large  circle  of  pupils  from  the  first  families.  All  his 
professional  work  was,  however,  with  him  but 
means  to  an  end.  Every  moment  of  leisure  that  he 
could  snatch  by  day  from  his  musical  pursuits,  and 
every  hour  that  he  could  subtract  from  his  sleep  at 
night,  were  devoted  to  those  astronomical  studies 
to  which,  by  the  strong  workings  of  natural  genius, 
he  was  impelled  with  a  force  he  had  no  power  or 
wish  to  resist. 

From  the  quietude  of  her  retired  home,  and  the 
monotonous  music  of  her  mother's  spinning-wheel 
and  her  own  knitting  needles,  Caroline  was  plunged 
at  once  into  a  life  of  ceaseless  activity.  She  had  a 
purpose  quite  as  strong  as  her*  brother's,  and  that 
was — to  be  in  all  things  possible,  and  some  that 
seemed  impossible,  his  devoted  helper.  It  is  said  of 
her,  that  for  ten  years  she  persevered  by  night  and 
day,  "  singing  when  she  was  told  to  sing,  copying 
when  she  was  told  to  copy,  lending  a  hand  in  the 
workshop  (where  her  brother  manufactured  his  tele- 
scopes), and  taking  her  full  share  in  all  the  stirring 
and  exciting  changes  by  which  the  musician  ultimate- 
ly became  the  king's  astronomer  and  a  celebrity." 

Besides  all  these  unusual  duties,  she  kept  her 
brother's  house,  and  had  a  full  share  of  trouble  with 
inefficient  and  wasteful  servants,  whose  extrava- 
gance shocked  her  thrifty  habits  and  harassed  her 
temper.  Yet  she  never  says  anything  of  her  own 
exertions  or  privations  in  that  arduous  time  of  toil, 


MISS   CAROLINE    HERSGHEL.  47 

and  only  recalled  them  to  her  nephew  in  after-days, 
"  to  show,"  as  she  said,  "  with  what  miserable  as- 
sistance your  father  made  shift  to  obtain  the  means 
of  exploring  the  heavens."  Every  one  but  herself 
would  call  it  most  invaluable  assistance,  every 
power  of  her  body  and  mind  being  devoted  to  him. 

At  breakfast  times,  upon  her  first  arrival,  her 
brother  gave  her  some  lessons  in  English  and  arith- 
metic. "  By  way  of  relaxation,  we  talked  of  astro- 
nomy, and  the  bright  constellations  with  which 
I  had  made  acquaintance  during  the  fine  nights 
we  had  spent  on  the  postwagen,  travelling  through 
Holland/'  In  this  desultory  way  she  began  the 
studies  in  which  she  ultimately  excelled.  Had  she 
chosen,  there  is  little  doubt  she  might  have  had 
great  success  as  a  public  singer ;  but  her  brother's 
tastes  and  pursuits  were  hers,  and  no  excitement  of 
praise,  or  hope  of  emolument,  ever  interfered  with 
her  steady  resolve  to  work  for  and  with  him. 

The  difficulties,  fatigues,  and  dangers  of  her 
brother's  experiments  and  first  mechanical  contri- 
vances were  almost  innumerable.  There  was  then 
no  optician  resident  in  Bath,  and  the  toil  of  making 
tubes  for  telescopes,  polishing  mirrors,  procuring  or 
inventing  tools,  took  up  all  the  time  that  could  be 
spared  from  music.  Indeed,  Caroline  had  to  watch 
her  brother,  and  almost  put  the  food  in  his  mouth, 
so  that  his  health  might  not  suffer  by  his  mind 
being  so  absorbed  in  his  scientific  pursuits. 

As  far  as  a  wide  reading  of  biography  enables 


48  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

me  to  judge,  I  think  there  is  no  record  of  such 
hard,  various,  and  continued  study  and  work  as  that 
which  was  performed  by  this  remarkable  woman. 
Her  brother's  career  was  extraordinary,  but  he  had 
the  advantage  of  a  good,  sound,  early  education,  and 
habits  of  study  fostered  by  his  father's  approbation. 
Caroline  had  merely  been  able  to  gather  the  crumbs 
of  knowledge  that  fell  around  her  in  her  childhood's 
home,  and  to  devour  them  in  secrecy  and  fright,  being 
far  more  likely  to  have  blame  than  praise.  All 
the  deficiencies  of  her  early  mental  training  she  had 
now  to  make  up,  as  well  as  to  pursue  tasks  wholly 
unusual  to  her  sex.  At  night  she  watched  the 
heavens  with  her  brother,  regardless  of,  yet  not 
without  feeling,  cold  and  weariness.  Once,  on  a 
bitter  December  night,  she  records,  that  in  making 
some  alteration  in  the  machinery  of  the  telescope, 
she  slipped  on  the  snowy  ground,  and  was  impaled 
on  an  iron  hook.  "  My  brother's  call,  '  Make  haste/ 
I  could  only  answer  by  a  pitiful  cry,  '  I  am 
hooked/  He  and  the  workman  were  instantly 
with  me ;  but  they  could  not  lift  me  without  leaving 
nearly  two  ounces  of  my  flesh  behind.  The  work- 
man's wife  was  called,  but  was  afraid  to  do  any- 
thing ;  and  I  was  obliged  to  be  my  own  surgeon,  by 
applying  aquabusade  (water  bandages)  and  tying 
kerchiefs  about  it  for  some  days."  The  wound  was 
bad  for  a  long  time ;  and  a  physician  told  her  that 
had  a  soldier  met  with  such  a  hurt  he  would  have 
been  entitled  to  six  weeks'  nursing  in  hospital. 


MISS    CAROLINE    HEESCHEL.  49 

The  astronomical  discoveries  of  her  brother  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  scientific  world,  and  led 
to  George  III.,  his  Queen,  and  the  Princesses  taking 
an  interest  in  the  astronomer.  Royal  patronage,  and 
still  more,  his  own  strong  desire,  determined  William 
Herschel  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  his  astronomi- 
cal studies.  The  brother  and  sister  played  and  sung 
professionally  for  the  last  time  on  Whit-  Sunday,  1782, 
at  St.  Margaret's  Chapel,  Bath,  the  anthem  for  the 
day  being  a  composition  of  William  Herschel. 

The  honours  which  came  to  the  brother  were  by 
no  means  remunerative.  He  gave  up  his  pupils  and 
musical  career  at  Bath,  which  had  enabled  him  to 
spend  a  large  amount  of  money  on  scientific  instru- 
ment and  experiments.  His  salary,  when  he  was 
appointed  Royal  Astronomer,  was  but  £200  a  year  ! 
Well  might  Sir  William  Watson  say,  "Never 
bought  monarch  honour  so  cheap." 

This  stipend  would  not  have  paid  the  rent  of  the 
new  Observatory  and  the  expenses  of  frequent  jour- 
neys to  and  fro  to  the  king  and  queen  at  Windsor, 
but  for  the  astronomer's  success  in  making  tele- 
scopes for  sale.  He  was  compelled  to  pursue  this 
mechanical  branch,  or  he  could  not  have  continued 
his  observations  of  the  heavens. 

His  sister,  finding  she  must  qualify  herself  as 
assistant  astronomer,  learned  to  use  the  telescope, 
and,  as  she  called  it,  "  sweep  the  heavens/'  in 
which  she  soon  acquired  great  skill.  In  her 
brother's  absences  from  home,  she,  to  use  her  own 

E 


50  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

quaint  phrase,  "  Minded  the  heavens/'  and  with 
such  success  that  her  watching  was  rewarded  in  a 
very  wonderful  way.  On  the  1st  of  August,  1786, 
she  discovered  a  comet;  and,  her  brother  being 
abroad,  she  with  characteristic  promptitude  wrote 
en  the  following  morning  an  account  of  her  dis- 
covery to  two  eminent  men,  Dr.  Blagden  and  Alex. 
Aubert,  Esq.,  who  in  a  few  days  congratulated  her 
warmly,  the  latter  saying,  "  You  have  immortalized 
your  name ;  and  you  deserve  such  a  reward  from 
the  Being  who  has  ordered  all  these  things  to  move 
as  we  find  them,  for  your  assiduity  in  the  business 
of  astronomy,  and  for  your  love  for  so  celebrated 
and  deserving  a  brother." 

From  this  time,  Miss  Caroline  Herschel  became 
what,  in  her  humility,  she  never  desired  to  be — a 
celebrity.  She  rather  shrunk  from  any  praise  of 
herself,  as  if  it  was  taken  from  her  brother.  He 
was  to  her  as  the  sun,  and  she  merely  a  shadow 
called  up  by  his  brightness.  Surely,  it  was  an 
absurd  and  exaggerated  humility  in  her  to  Say,  "  I 
did  nothing  for  my  brother  but  what  a  well-trained 
puppy-dog  would  have  done.  I  was  a  mere  tool, 
which  he  had  the  trouble  of  sharpening/' 

All  the  thoughtful  people  of  her  own  time,  and 
still  more  since  the  narrative  of  her  life  has  been 
given  to  the  world,  will  not  take  her  own  estimate 
of  herself.  She  achieved  individual,  quite  as  much 
as  relative  greatness. 

Space  will  not  permit  me  to  follow  the  career  of 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  51 

Miss  Herschel  as  an  astronomer,  except  to  remind 
my  young  readers  that  she  did  not  allow  herself  to 
become  less  diligent  as  she  grew  more  celebrated. 
A  real  love  of  science  for  its  own  sake,  and  not 
for  any  praise,  still  less  for  pecuniary  advantage, 
possessed  and  ennobled  her  mind.  She  had  the 
small  salary  of  fifty  pounds  a  year  awarded  her  as 
assistant  astronomer,  and  this  was  continued  as  a 
pension  in-  her  old  age. 

Her  discovery  of  the  first  comet  was  followed  by 
that  of  seven  or  eight  others.  After  her  brother's 
marriage,  which  took  place  late  in  his  life  to  a  very 
amiable  lady,  Miss  Herschel  removed  to  a  small  re- 
sidence near  him,  and  continued  to  sit  up  with  him 
in  his  observatory,  note  down  his  observations,  and 
make  necessary  and  difficult  calculations  for  him. 
She  was  greatly  delighted,  with  what  may  be  called 
an  almost  maternal  joy,  when  a  son  of  that  beloved 
brother  was  placed  in  her  arms — that  son  who  lived 
to  nobly  inherit  his  father's  genius,  and  uphold  and 
extend  the  fame  of  the  honoured  name  of  Herschel. 

Of  course  as  celebrity  came  to  her  she  was  sought 
out  by  the  wealthy  and  distinguished ;  but  whether 
in  the  courtly  sphere  of  royalty,  or  among  the  elite 
of  fashionable  and  scientific  circles,  she  always 
retained  the  unaffected  simplicity  of  her  manners, 
delighting  all  by  her  friendliness  and  entire  freedom 
from  assumption.  She  was  a  true  gentlewoman  in 
heart  and  manners,  thinking  always  of  others  rather 
than  of  herself. 


52  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

Miss  Herschel  reached  the  age  of  seventy,  and 
was  still  toiling  on  at  her  celestial  studies,  when 
her  brother,  Sir  William,  died,  full  of  years  and 
honours,  aged  eighty-two.  She  mourned  him  with 
an  intensity  of  sorrow  that  seemed  like  the  uproot- 
ing of  her  own  heart.  She  felt  that  she  could  not 
live  in  England  now  he  was  gone,  and  went  home 
to  her  native  land  to  die.  It  was  not  exactly  a  wise 
determination.  The  resolutions  we  take  in  sorrow, 
or  in  any  strong  emotion,  are  more  the  result  of 
excited  feeling  than  calm  judgment ;  and  so  it  was 
in  this  case.  The  country  she  returned  to,  after 
nearly  fifty  years'  absence,  was  not  at  all  like  the 
place  she  had  left,  or  that  youthful  memory  had 
retained  in  her  mind.  All  her  immediate  acquain- 
tance and  most  of  her  kinsfolk  were  gone,  or  came 
to  her  as  strangers.  She  left  the  most  cultured 
circle  in  England  to  find  neither  companionship  for 
her  heart  or  her  mind.  Yet  deep  as  the  disappoint- 
ment must  have  been,  she  did  not  say  much  about 
it;  for  at  first  she  thought  her  life  would  not  last 
long,  and  after  that  she  grew  more  accustomed  to 
the  change.  Her  correspondence  with  her  nephew, 
Sir  John  Herschel,  to  whom  she  transferred  the  love 
she  had  borne  his  father,  that  nephew's  success  in 
his  scientific  career,  the  letters  and  tributes  she 
received  from  eminent  people  throughout  England 
and  the  world,  and  the  respect  with  which  she  was 
treated  by  all  at  Hanover,  from  the  king  and  his 
family,  with  whom  she  was  a  great  favourite,  to 


MISS    CAROLINE    HERSCHEL.  58 

the  more  accessible  circles  of  intellectual  society — 
all  these  gradually  reconciled  her  to  her  residence, 
and  made  it  less  a  state  of  exile. 

Moreover,  her  sincere  and  cheerful  piety  sustained 
her,  as  year  followed  year  and  found  her  yet  re- 
maining, still  taking  an  interest  in  all  that  was 
going  on  in  the  scientific  world,  and  deeply  sympa- 
thising in  the  greater  advantages  of  education  that 
were  coming  within  the  reach  of  her  own  sex.  She 
deplored  what  she  thought  (and  not  without  reason) 
the  extravagance  in  modern  attire  among  women. 
Her  own  modest  income  of  £50  a  year,  to  which 
her  nephew  insisted,  against  her  remonstrance,  on 
adding  another  £50,  was  always  sufficient  for  her 
wants,  although  she  visited  and  received  the  visits 
of  royalty.  A  single  maid- servant  conducted  her 
frugal  household  arrangements  in  her  simple  apart- 
ments ;  and  thus  in  all  the  dignity  of  simplicity  and 
independence  her  life  went  on,  until  it  almost 
seemed  as  if  death  had  forgotten  her. 

'Sir  John  HerscheFs  visit  to  the  Cape  (1834), 
to  make  astronomical  observations,  interested  her 
greatly.  She  was  amused  when  the  asti-onomical  so- 

•* 

cieties  of  England  and  Dublin  elected  her  a  mem- 
ber, and  awarded  her  a  medal.  She  could  not  be- 
lieve she  had  done  anything  very  great,  or  indeed 
at  all  worthy  of  being  called  great ;  and  she  said, 
quaintly  enough,  "To  think  of  their  electing  me, 
when  I  have  not  discovered  a  comet  for  eighteen 
years ! " 


54  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

She  lived  to  within  nearly  fwo  years  ^of  a  hun- 
dred. In  anticipation  of  her  death,  she  had  long 
before  composed  her  epitaph,  and  left  memorials  to 
her  nephew  and  a  few  relatives,  and  her  books  and 
telescopes  to  friends  and  learned  Societies. 

She  retained  her  faculties  unclouded,  and  her 
will  strong  and  active  to  the  last.  It  was  winter 
when  the  end  came,  and  she  had  reluctantly  to 
keep  her  bed,  but  was  free  from  pain,  and  able  to 
raise  herself  and  converse. 

The  guns  which  announced  the  birth  of  a  child 
in  the  royal  family  struck  on  her  dying  ear;  she 
was  told  the  cause.  The  departing  one  expressed 
hopes  for  the  new  pilgrim,  and  then  fell  gently 
asleep.  With  scarcely  a  struggle,  she  entered  into 
rest  on  the  9th  of  January,  1848.  She  was  buried 
beside  her  father  and  mother,,  and  her  tomb  bears 
the  following  inscription  : — 

HERE  RESTS  THE  EARTHLY  EXTERIOR  02 

CAROLINE  HERSCHEL, 

BORN  AT  HANOVER,  MARCH  36TH,  17uO, 

DIED  JANY.  9TH,  1848. 

The  eyes  of  her  who  is  glorified  were  here  below  turned 
toithe  starry  heavens.  Her  own  discoveries  of  comets,  and 
her  participation  in  the  immortal  labours  of  her  brother, 
William  Herschel,  bear  witness  of  this  to  future  ages. 


ira2    all  Sliijo   Uairaedi   --^~x^ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

jVliss   ELIZABETH    SMITH. 

8ELF-CULTUKE. 

excellent  systems  of  teaching 
in  the  present  day  so  smooth  the 
steep  hill  of  difficulty  to  the 
young  seeker  after  knowledge, 
that  it  is  sometimes  thought  there 
is  no  great  need  of  saying  much 
noiv  about  self-training  and  cul- 
ture. Every  facility  is  afforded 
to  learners,  and  the  assumption 
is  that  all  learn  readily,  and  that 
allusions  to  and  examples  of  what  was  in  forme" 
times  very  justly  called  "the  pursuit  of  knowledge 
under  difficulties  "  are  now  no  longer  needed. 

While  rejoicing  heartily  that  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  school  instruction  are  removed,  that 
elementary  knowledge  is  insisted  on  for  all,  and 
that  culture  in  the  higher  branches  of  attainment 


58  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

is  generally  accessible,  I  yet  think  that  there  is 
some  danger — it  may  be  great  danger — that  the 
young  will  depend  too  much  on  what  is  done  for 
them,  and  think  too  little  of  what,  if  they  are  to 
be  really  cultivated  and  intelligent  women,  must  be 
done  by  them.  No  system  of  instruction  can  pos- 
sibly supersede  thoughtful  effort  and  diligent  at- 
tention in  the  pupil,  or  compensate  for  wise  appli- 
cation of  attainments  when  girlhood  merges  into 
womanhood. 

There  is  a  sense,  and  a  very  important  sense  too, 
in  which  every  one  who  really  is  well-informed  must 
be  self-taught.  Instruction  given  is  one  thing, 
instruction  received  another.  No  plans  of  educa- 
tion can  supersede  or  supply  a  substitute  for  the 
faculty  of  attention  and  the  practice  of  diligence. 
What  the  young  mind  desires  and  resolves  to  do 
for  itself  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  that  mind. 
Instruction  may  stream  on  and  over  the  mind  like 
water  over  a  mirror,  and  make  no  abiding-place 
in  it. 

In  the  times  gone  by,  people  were  rather  to  be 
pitied  than  blamed  if  they  were  ignorant.  "  Igno- 
rance of  what  they  could  not  know"  was  not  culpable. 
But  now,  with  all  the  facilities  which  schools  and 
libraries  afford,  ignorance  is  a  disgrace  which  every 
right-minded  young  person  should  resolutely  avoid. 
When  darkness  prevailed,  none  were  to  blame  for 
not  seeing ;  but  to  be  voluntarily  dark  amid  the 
blaze  of  day,  that  is  indeed  culpable.  It  is  the  awful 


MISS    ELIZABETH    SMITH.  59 

realization  of  the  solemn  words :  "  If  the  light  that 
is  in  thee  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness  I" 

Hence  it  is  a  salutary  exercise  to  look  back  on 
former  times,  and  refresh  our  mind's  and  stimulate 
our  faculties  with  the  records  and  experience  of 
those  who  have  had  to  cope  with  hardships  no 
longer  existing,  and  whose  mental  and  moral 
triumphs  over  difficulties  remain  as  an  example  to 
all  thoughtful  readers. 

Few  young  women  in  any  age  or  country  were 
more  successful  in  acquiring  knowledge,  or  more 
modest,  conscientious,  and  judicious  in  its  use,  than 
Miss  Elizabeth  Smith,  the  Oriental  scholar,  and 
the  translator  of  the  Book  of  Job  ;  and  readers  are 
more  drawn  to  the  consideration  of  her  acquire- 
ments from  the  fact  that  her  Christian  character 
was  even  more  lofty  than  her  remarkable  mind. 

There  is  not  much  to  record  in  her  uneventful, 
brief,  yet  beautiful  life.  Some  sorrows  came  to 
test  her  principles  and  show  her  sweet  sympathy 
and  calm  fortitude. 

In  the  year  1793,  times  were  very  hard  in  Eng- 
land. The  French  Revolution  had  startled  the 
whole  civilized  world.  War  was  rampant,  opinions 
were  conflicting,  property  was  insecure,  taxation 
high,  trade  and  commerce  much  depressed.  It  was 
not  wonderful  that  the  moneyed  interest  should 
suffer,  and  many  banks  broke.  One  in  the  West 
of  England,  of  which  a  Mr.  Smith  was  the  leading 
partner,  failed;  and  the  blow  that  shattered  the 


60  WOMEN    WORTH   EMULATING. 

dwelling  may  be  said  to  have  let  in  light,  by  which 
we  plainly  see  a  most  interesting  family  circle. 

The  eldest  daughter,  Elizabeth,  was  sixteen  years 
of  age — just  able  to  enjoy  and  estimate  the  elegan- 
cies and  comforts  that  were  lost.  The  blow  fell 
suddenly — for,  in  such  crises,  failures  are  often  the 
result  of  the  difficulties  of  others,  and  become  be- 
yond individual  control — and  the  family  at  Fierce- 
field  were  looking  forward,  not  unreasonably,  to 
building  a  new  house,  and  to  years  of  prosperity 
and  domestic  happiness. 

Fortunately,  Mrs.  Smith,  the  mother  in  that 
home,  was  a  woman  of  great  good  sense  as  well  as 
refinement.  She  had  not  been  domesticated  in  one 
residence  for  any  long  period  of  her  married  life. 
She  resided  at  Burnhall,  the  seat  of  her  ancestors, 
near  Durham,  when  Elizabeth,  her  eldest  daughter, 
was  born,  in  1776.  Thence  the  family  removed  to 
Suffolk  for  a  time,  and  afterwards  lived  at  Fierce- 
field,  or  Bath.  Mrs.  Smith  was  her  children's  first 
instructress,  and  was  equally  surprised  and  de- 
lighted both  at  the  quickness  and  attention  of  little 
Elizabeth.  She  was  a  docile,  rather  shy  child,  very 
lovely  in  person,  and  gentle  in  temper. 

A  young  lady,  Miss  Hunt,  an  orphan,  only  some 
seventeen  years  of  age,  was  taken  by  Mrs.  Smith 
as  a  governess  to  her  little  family,  and  from  her 
Elizabeth  received  all  the  regular  instruction  that 
was  ever  bestowed  on  her.  The  young  governess 
was  kind  and  good,  and  tolerably  clever ;  but  her 


MISS    ELIZABETH    SMITH.  61 

pupil  Elizabeth  was  what  every  wise  teacher  wishes 
to  have — a  learner ;  and  her  progress,  particularly 
in  languages,  was  surprising.  By  the  time  she  was 
thirteen,  she  had  surpassed  her  governess  in  attain- 
ments. 

I  observe,  too,  from  her  letters*  that  she  com- 
pelled herself  to  studies  that  she  did  not  like  so 
well  as  languages.  Many  a  girl  will  devote  herself 
to  what  comes  easy  and  pleasant  to  her,  but  avoids 
what  tasks  her  intellect.  Arithmetic  and  mathe- 
matical studies  were  not  favourite  pursuits  with 
Elizabeth;  but  she  overcame  her  reluctance,  not 
from  any  parental  command,  but  because  she  was 
impressed  with  the  value  of  solid  studies,  and  the 
duty  of  cultivating  her  mind  in  all  branches  which 
she  had  an  opportunity  of  acquiring. 

Elizabeth  was  but  fifteen  when,  by  the  removal  of 
this  first  and  only  governess,  the  instruction  of  her 
younger  sisters  and  brothers  devolved  on  her.  No 
doubt  this  use  of  her  education  had  long  been 
thought  of  by  her.  Mrs.  Smith's  health-  grew 
delicate,  and  the  good  daughter  had  early  learned 
to  be  her  mother's  helper.  Her  fingers  were  skil- 
ful on  the  piano,  but  they  were  as  active  and  as 
skilled  in  making  and  mending  her  own  and  the 
younger  children's  clothes.  She  was  one  of  those 
— may  their  numbers  ever  increase — who  thought 
all  acquirements  and  accomplishments  should  be 
so  used  as  to  promote  domestic  order  and  social 

*  Mrs.  H.  M.  Bowdler's  account  of  Miss  Elizabeth  Smith. 


62  WOMEN   WOETH    EMULATING. 

comfort  and  refined  pursuits.  Hence  there  was  no 
selfishness  in  her  motives. 

By  early  rising,  she  had  time  for  her  reading  of 
the  poets,  English,  German,  and  Italian,  as  well  as 
superintending  the  lessons  of  the  younger  children. 
How  much  depends  on  the  eldest  daughter  in  a 
home!  How  she  may  become  a  sweet  companion 
for  the  leisure  hours  of  her  father,  a  ready  helper  in 
household  matters  to  her  mother,  a  tender  and  wise 
friend  to  her  younger  brothers  and  sisters,  a  loving 
and  beloved  assistant  to  all ! 

This  wise  discipline  of  early  life,  when  there  was 
no  fear  of  any  change  of  social  position,  un- 
doubtedly fitted  Elizabeth  for  the  altered  circum- 
stances that  came  to  her  just  as  womanhood  was 
opening  before  her. 

Of  course  there  must  have  been  grief  and  per- 
plexity for  her  father  and  mother,  but  there  never 
was  a  nrarmur  from  herself.  She  became  more 
cheerful  and  active  than  before,  so  as  to  lighten  the 
cares  of  others.  The  younger  children  clung  to  her 
with  increased  affection,  for  she  was  ever  ready  to 
teach  or  to  play  with  them,  and  to  supply,  as  far  as 
she  could,  every  want  of  the  attendance  they  had 
been  used  to,  and  to  teach  them  by  her  own  example 
to  be  gentle  and  helpful. 

For  some  time  the  family  were  absolutely  with- 
out a  home  of  their  own.  The  kindness  of  friends 
was  shown  by  offers  of  hospitality,  and  the  family 
visited  among  intimates  and  connections  until  some- 


MISS    ELIZABETH    SMITH.  63 

thing  could  be  settled  on  for  them.  Elizabeth, 
amid  all  these  interruptions,  kept  up  her  own 
studies  and  gave  constant  help  to  her  mother  with 
the  younger  branches  of  the  family. 

Mr.  Smith  obtained  a  commissio*n  and  entered 
the  army.  -This,  in  Elizabeth's  seventeenth  year, 
necessitated  their  removal  to  Ireland.  Her  father 
joined  his  regiment  at  Sligo,  and  his  family  went 
to  him.  Mrs.  Smith,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Randolph,, 
says  : — 

"  Books  are  not  light  of  carriage,  and  the  blow 
which  deprived  us  of  Piercefield  deprived  us  of  a 
library  also.  But  though  this  period  of  her  (Eliza's) 
life  (while  with  the  regiment  in  Ireland)  afforded 
little  opportunity  for  improvement  in  science,  the 
qualities  of  her  heart  never  appeared  in  a  more  ami- 
able light.  Through  all  the  inconveniences  which 
attended  our  situation  while  living  in  barracks,  the 
firmness  and  cheerful  resignation  of  her  mind  made 
me  blush  for  the  tear  which  too  frequently  trembled 
in  my  eye  at  the  recollection  of  the  comforts  we 
had  lost." 

On  their  first  arrival  in  Ireland,  in  the  summer 
of  1796,  they  passed  some  time  as  guests  at  the 
Earl  of  Kingston's  residence,  and  went  from  thence 
to  join  Captain  Smith  at  Sligo.  Although  it  was 
summer,  the  weather  was  very  wet,  and  the  family 
seem  to  have  had  a  wretched  journey,  and  found 
that  no  comforts  awaited  them  at  their  quarters  in 
the  Sligo  barracks.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  Eliza- 


Dl  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

be th  says,  "  We  were  all  completely  wet  through 
when  we  arrived,  and  had  everything  to  unpack,  and 
beds  to  contrive  and  arrange. "  She  adds,  "  we  are 
all  very  well  and  much  amused  with  the  little  mis- 
fortunes that  happen  to  us." 

It  is  wonderful  to  think  of  her  cheerfulness ;  for 
Mrs.  Smith,  in  a  letter  on  the  same  subject,  says, 
"  We  arrived  at  the  barracks,  dripping  wet.  Our 
baggage  not  come,  and,  owing  to  the  negligence 
of  the  quarter-master,  there  was  not  even  a  bed  to 
rest  on.  The  whole  furniture  of  our  apartments 
consisted  of  a  piece  of  a  cart-wheel  for  a  fender,  a 
bit  of  iron  for  a  poker,  a  dirty  deal  table,  and  three 
wooden-bottomed  chairs.  It  was  the  first  time  we 
had  joined  the  regiment;  and  I  was  standing  by  the 
fire  meditating  on  our  forlorn  state,  and  perhaps 
dwelling  too  much  on  the  comforts  I  had  lost,  when 
I  was  roused  from  my  reverie  by  Elizabeth  ex- 
claiming, '  Oh,  what  a  blessing  ! ' 

" '  Bles'sing ! '  I  replied;  'there  seems  none 
left/ 

"  '  Indeed  there  is,  dear  mother;  for  see,  here  is 
a  little  cupboard/ 

"  I  dried  my  tears,  and  endeavoured  to  learn  for- 
titude from  my  daughter." 

That  lovely  and  gifted  daughter  immediately  set 
to  work  to  make  a  meal  for  the  family,  and  to  put 
the  little  cupboard  to  use  for  holding  necessaries; 
and  with  characteristic  ingenuity  and  good  humour, 
she  contrived  a  little  luxurious  surprise  for  the 


MISS    ELIZABETH    SMITH.  65 

family  by  making  them  a  currant  tart.  What  a 
treasure  was  her  activity  and  unfailing  good 
humour !  Not  that  she  did  not  feel  the  change  of 
circumstances,  for  with  her  thoughtful  mind  and 
tender  heart  she  must  have  felt  deeply;  but  she 
was  intent  on  lightening  the  burden  for  the  rest, 
and  in  this  found  her  own  soul  comforted. 

I  have  said  she  was  a  good  needlewoman,  and  her 
own  dress  and  that  of  the  family  depended  almost 
entirely  on  her  skill  and  taste.  It  was  remarked  of 
her,  when  she  was  grown  up  and  mixed  in  the 
small  but  very  cultivated  circle  of  her  friends,  that 
her  taste  was  so  correct,  no  lady  could  be  more 
elegantly  and  yet  more  simply  dressed.  Economy 
and  neatness  were  both  combined  with  taste  and 
refinement,  an  equal  avoidance  of  finery  and  shabbi- 
ness,  which  I  think  my  judicious  young  readers  will 
esteem  the  perfection  of  good  sense  in  dress  for 
those  whose  means  are  limited. 

Although  there  were  many  interruptions  and  im- 
pediments to  the  studies  that  she  loved  during  her 
residence  in  Ireland,  and  Elizabeth  could  not  ob- 
tain the  books  she  wished  for,  yet  she  made  good 
use  of  such  as  fell  in  her  way.  Some  Greek  and 
Latin  works  especially  came  within  reach,  and  she 
employed  her  brief  leisure,  or  rather,  by  her  habits 
of  economizing  time  and  rising  early,  made  leisure 
to  use  these  books  in  helping  her  to  obtain  classical 
knowledge. 

From  Ireland,  the  family  returned  to  Bath,  and 

I 


66  WOMUN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

here  she  resumed  her  Hebrew  and  her  German 
studies,  having  access  to  books  that  helped  her. 
She  seems  to  have  pursued  her  student  course 
alone,  as  regards  tuition,  being  her  own  tutor,  but 
not  without  admiring  encouragement  from  her 
family  and  friends.  There  were  found  among  her 
papers  the  following  reflections,  written  on  the  day 
of  her  coming  of  age  : — 

"  Being  now  arrived  at  what  is  called  years  of 
discretion,  and  looking  back  on  my  past  life  with 
shame  and  confusion,  when  I  recollect  the  many 
advantages  I  have  had,  and  the  bad  use  I  have 
made  of  them,  the  hours  I  have  squandered,  and 
the  opportunities  of  improvement  I  have  neglected  ; 
when  I  imagine  what  with  those  advantages  I  ought 
to  be,  and  find  myself  what  I  am,  I  am  resolved  to 
endeavour  to  be  more  careful  for  the  future,  if 
the  future  be  granted  me ;  to  try  to  make  amends 
for  past  negligence  by  employing  every  moment  I 
can  command  to  some  good  purpose  ;  to  endeavour 
to  acquire  all  the  little  knowledge  that  human 
nature  is  capable  of  on  earth,  but  to  let ,  the  Word 
of  God  be  my  chief  study,  and  all  others  subser- 
vient to  it.  To  model  myself,  as  far  as  I  am  able, 
according  to  the  gospel  of  Christ ;  to  be  content 
while  my  trial  lasts  ;  and  when  it  is  finished,  to  re- 
joice, trusting  in  the  merits  of  my  Eedeemer.  I 
have  written  these  resolutions  to  stand  as  a  witness 
against  me,  in  case  I  should  be  inclined  to  forget 
them,,  and  to  return  to  my  former  indolence  and 


MISS    ELIZABETH    SMITH.  67 

thoughtlessness,  because  I  have  found  the  inutility 
of  mental  determinations.  May  God  give  me 
strength  to  keep  them  !  " 

The  prayer  with,  which  this  resolve  concludes 
shows  the  source  to  which  alone  she  looked  for 
strength  and  grace.  Resolutions  made  in  our  own 
strength  only  are  never  likely  to  produce  the  re- 
sults we  wish.  They  are  evanescent,  like  the  morn- 
ing cloud  and  early  dew. 

Captain  Smith's  stay  with  his  regiment  was  pro- 
longed for  some  years ;  and  his  family  at  length 
were  settled  in  a  little  retreat  at  Coniston,  in  a  very 
beautiful  region,  since  become  celebrated  not  only 
for  its  great  natural  beauties,  but  for  the  many 
eminent  literary  people  who  have  taken  up  their 
residence  within  the  lake  district,  and  have  made 
its  scenery  ever  memorable. 

From  the  time  that  Elizabeth  began  to  study 
Hebrew,  she  devoted  herself  to  the  examination 
of,  and  to  translations  from,  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
This  indeed  was  her  motive  in  entering  on  a  course 
of  study  not  common  now,  and  very  uncommon  then, 
among  women.  She  was  eminently  a  Bible  student, 
and  the  work  of  her  life,  which  honourably  ranks 
her  among  contributors  to  the  literature  of  her 
time,  was  her  translation  of  the  Book  of  Job — a 
very  ambitious  effort  for  a  young  and  self-taught 
woman. 

Rev.  Dr.  Magee,  of  Trinity  College,  known  then  as 
a  great  Hebraist  and  authority  in  Biblical  criticism, 


68  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

wrote  of  Elizabeth  Smith's  translation  :  , "  After  a 
close  scrutiny  and  a  careful  comparison  with  the 
original,  it  strikes  me  as  conveying  more  of  the 
true  character  and  meaning  of  the  Hebrew,  with 
fewer  departures  from  the  idiom  of  the  English 
than  any  other  translation  whatever  that  we  possess. 
It  combines  accuracy  of  style,  and  unites  critical 
research  with  familiar  exposition. " 

This  work  was  finished  in  1803.  She  occupied 
herself  also,  while  at  Coniston,  with  making  trans- 
lations from  the  German  of  Klopstock,*  chiefly 
letters  and  papers  of  the  illustrious  German  de- 
votional poet,  and  his  congenial-minded  wife ;  and 
it  was  said  of  her  success  in  clothing  the  German 
author  in  an  English  dress  : — "  Klopstock,  under 
her  management,  talks  English  as  well  as  his  native 
tongue ;  and  the  warmest  of  his  admirers  would 
rejoice  to  hear  the  facility  and  precision  with  which 
she  has  taught  their  favourite  poet  and  philosopher 
to  converse  amongst  us." 

Her  acquaintance  with  eminent  poetical  writings, 
and  more  especially  with  so  sublime  a  work  as  the 
Book  of  Job,  gave  her  a  distaste  for  her  own  original 
poetic  compositions.  She  felt  their  inferiority  to  the 
models  which  had  formed  her  taste,  and  therefore,  to 
the  regret  of  many  friends,  ceased  to  exercise  her 
pen  in  that  way.  As  there  is  no  subject,  on  which 
even  sensible  people  so  often  deceive  themselves,  as 
on  that  of  their  own  powers  of  poetic  writings, 
*  Author  of  "The  Messiah,"  etc. 


MISS    ELIZABETH    SMITH.  t>9 

it  shows  us  both  the  humility  and  the  sound  judg- 
ment of  this  young  lady,  that  she  early  came  to  the 
conclusion,  that  while  she  had  poetic  feeling  and 
fine  taste,  she  had  not  in  a  high  degree  the  gift  of 
poetic  expression. 

It  is  pleasant  to  think  that  the  last  two  years  of 
this  sweet  life  were  passed  amid  scenery  that  she 
loved,  and  that  her  health,  until  a  few  months  be- 
fore her  lamented  death,  was  perfect.  She  made 
many  sketching  excursions,  and  returned  exhilarated 
from  the  long  walks  to  many  beautiful  scenes,  which 
her  skilful  and  ready  pencil  had  transferred  to  her 
sketch-book.  The  commencement  of  her  illness  is 
given  by  herself  : — 

"  One  very  hot  evening  in  July  I  took  a  book 
and  walked  about  two  miles  from  home,  where  I 
seated  myself  on  a  stone  beside  the  lake.  Being 
much  engaged  by  a  poem  I  was  reading,  I  did  not  per- 
ceive that  the  sun  was  gone  down,  and  was  succeeded 
by  a  very  heavy  dew,  till  in  a  moment  I  felt  struck 
on  the  chest  as  if  with  a  sharp  knife.  I  returned 
home,  but  said  nothing  of  the  pain.  The  next  day 
being  also  very  hot,  and  every  one  busy  in  the  hay- 
field,  I  thought  I  would  take  a  rake  and  work  very* 
hard  to  produce  perspiration,  in  the  hope  that  it 
might  remove  the  pain,  but  it  did  not." 

From  that  time  a  bad  cough  and  frequent  loss  of 
voice  alarmed  her  family.  In  the  autumn,  as  she 
became  worse,  she  was  removed  to  a  milder  climate, 
and  reached  the  house  of  a  friend  at  Gloucester. 


70  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

Thence  she  was  taken  to  Finsbury,  where  she 
stayed  five  months.  Afterwards,  in  May,  Dr. 
Baillie  of  London  recommended  Matlock ;  but,  as 
•she  did  not  improve,  and  confirmed  consumption 
had  set  in,  at  her  earnest  desire  she  returned  to 
Coniston,  and  on  reaching  her  pretty  cottage  home, 
she  said,  "  If  I  cannot  live  here,  I  am  sure  I  can 
nowhere  else." 

Here,  in  a  few  weeks,  the  end  drew  near,  but  the 
gentle  sufferer  was  so  serenely  calm  and  unmurmur- 
ing, that  no  one  but  her  mother  thought  her  so  ill 
as  she  really  was.  Nor  did  she  herself  anticipate 
so  sudden  a  release  as  she  experienced.  But  she 
was,  by  faith  in  Jesus,  always  ready,  and  never 
depressed.  On  the  night  of  the  7th  August,  1806, 
she  became  very  exhausted  and  somewhat  restless. 
She  would  not  let  her  mother  sit  up  with  her,  fear- 
ing the  fatigue  would  be  injurious  to  her.  An  old 
and  faithful  servant  was  with  the  sufferer  early  in 
the  morning,  and  yielded  to  her  wish  to  get  up  and 
be  dressed.  While  this  was  being  done,  a  slight 
tremor  shook  Elizabeth's  feeble  frame ;  she  leaned 
her  head  on  the  attendant's  shoulder,  and  with  a 
gentle  sigh  the  spirit  fled  to  join  its  kindred 
among  the  just  made  perfect.  Surely  there  was 
infinite  mercy  in  such  an  easy  dismissal  to  one  so 
prepared ! 

One  lesson  of  humility  from  her  own  private 
meditations  deserves  to  be  remembered  by  all 
young  readers;  to  the  highly  gifted  it  is  the  most 


MISS    ELIZABETH    SMITH.  7l 

applicable — "The  more  talents  and  good  qualities 
we  nave  received,  the  more  humble  we  ought  to  be, 
because  we  have  the  less  merit  in  doing  right." 

She  was  buried  at  Hawkeshead,  where  a  white 
marble  tablet  is  inscribed: — 

IN  MEMORY  OF 
ELIZABETH, 

ELDEST  DAUGHTER  OF  GEORGE  SMITH, 

OF  CONISTON,  ESQ. 
SHE  DIED  AUGUST  THE  7Tii,  AGED  29. 

SHE   POSSESSED   GREAT   TALENTS, 

EXALTED  VIRTUES, 
AND   HUMBLE   PIETY. 


CHAPTER  V. 

AMELIA       p  P  I  E  , 
AN    ONLY    DAUGHTER. 

'HERE  are  few  conditions  of  life  more 
abounding  both  in  responsibilities  and 
temptations  than  that  of  an  only  daugh- 
ter, called  at  an  early  age,  by  the  death 
of  her  mother,  to  take  that  mother's  va- 
cant place  and  superintend  her  father's 
house.  She  has  to  be  his  earthly  con- 
soler, his  duteous  child,  and  the  careful  manager 
of  his  domestic  affairs,  just  after  they  have  been 
wrecked  or  shattered  by  a  heavy  blow.  It  must 
be  her  study  to  prevent  her  father  from  having  to 
mourn  over  a  ruined  home,  as  well  as  a  departed 
wife. 

"  Poor  thing  !  she  has  lost  her  mother  when  she 
needed  her  care  most,"  is  the  frequent  remark  when 
a  young  maiden  is  thus  left, — left,  just  as  childhood 
is  merging  into  womanhood,  and  all  the  varied  diffi- 
culties, mistakes,  and  peculiar  trials  of  youth  have 
to  be  encountered  by  the  motherless  girl.  Every 
feeling  heart  must  be  interested  in  one  so  situated ; 


AMELIA    OPIE.  75 

every  Christian  spirit  will  be  ready  to  breathe  a 
prayer  for,  and  give  gentle  counsel  to,  a  daughter 
so  bereaved. 

Yet  among  the  sweet  examples  which  rise  to  our 
observation  or  memory,  if  we  are  thoughtful 
seekers  for  excellence,  we  shall  find  many  an  in- 
stance, among  high  and  low,  of  a  daughter  taking 
her  mother's  place — showing  her  tender  love  for 
the  departed,  not  so  much  by  tears  and  grief  as  by 
trying  to  fulfil  every  duty,  and  seeking  to  compen- 
sate the  home  for  the  loss  of  the  wife  and  mother, 
who,  if  worthy  of  those  names,  was  the  central 
light  of  the  dwelling. 

In  many  a  humble  home,  the  family  have  had  to 
cling  to  some  elder  sister,  who  seemed  to  have  put 
off  her  childhood  at  her  mother's  grave;  and,  while 
the  tears  were  still  wet  upon  her  cheeks,  has  begun 
to  set  the  house  in  order,  to  tend  the  children,  to 
pay  extra  attention  to  the  head  of  the  family,  and  in 
a  thousand  ways  to  prevent  the  father  from  being 
utterly  crushed  by  his  trouble.  God's  blessing  is 
on  all  such  efforts  of  affection !  The  effort  is 
indeed  twice  blessed — to  the  youthful  mind  that 
makes  it,  and  to  the  home  it  is  made  for.  Many  a 
thoughtless  girl  has  been  developed  into  a  noble 
woman  by  such  a  discipline  of  sorrow. 

But  the  temptations  of  youth  are  much  increased 
in  the  case  of  an  only  daughter  whose  father  is  in 
that  position  in  life  which  belongs  to  a  superior 
station.  A  professional  man,  whether  doctor  or 


76  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

lawyer,  is  not  able  to  leave  the  locality  in  which 
he  lives  in  search  of  the  consolation  of  travel ;  he 
must  remain  among-  his  patients  or  clients.  He 
may  have  household  arrangements  which  cannot, 
without  utter  discomfiture,  be  altered;  and  if,  being 
the  father  of  an  only  daughter,  he  has  no  near 
female  relative  of  mature  years  to  undertake  the 
management  of  his  domestic  affairs,  he  is  com- 
mitted either  to  an  upper  servant,  or  to  the  plan 
of  putting  his  child  at  the  head  of  his  house  and 
confiding  to  her  youth  a  charge  which  demands 
a  thoughtful  care  scarcely  to  be  expected  in  early 
years.  Happy  the  man  whose  daughter  in  such  an 
exigency  shows  herself  equal  to  the  task  of  filling 
her  mother's  place  in  his  home  and  heart. 

In  the  year  1784,  Dr.  Alderson,  an  eminent 
physician  of  Norwich,  lost  his  wife,  and  was  left 
with  an  only  daughter,  Amelia,  aged  fifteen.  This 
young  lady  at  once  became  her  father's  house- 
keeper as  well  as  companion.  She  was  gifted  with 
so  many  advantages  of  person  and  mind  that  her 
childhood  had  attracted  the  attention  of  all  who 
knew  her.  Fair  and  blooming,  with  a  smiling  face 
and  beaming  eyes,  perfect  health,  great  vivacity,  a 
sweet  voice,  and  frank  charming  manners,  she 
seemed  the  very  embodiment  of  the  poet's  ideal  of 
joyous  youth. 

Great  attention  had  been  paid  to  her  education, 
and  very  uncommon  advantages  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture had  been  bestowed.  A  Flemish  pastor,  the 


AMELIA   OPIE.  77 

Rev.  John  Bruckner,  settled  in  Norwich  when 
Amelia  Alderson  was  seven  years  of  age,  and  he 
gave  her  instruction  in  the  French  language,  and 
also  in  some  solid  branches  of  acquirement  then 
much  neglected  in  female  education.  She  had 
great  love  of,  and  some  skill  in,  music — particularly 
singing.  Added  to  this  was  a  mind  active  to 
acquire  and  tenacious  to  retain  knowledge,  with  an 
imagination  so  graceful,  and  a  love  of  poetry  so 
great,  that  its  youthful  possessor  was  in  danger  of 
living  too  much  in  an  ideal  world,  for  her  gifts 
were  just  those  which  need  the  utmost  discretion 
in  their  culture  and  use. 

This  first  grief — the  loss  of  her  mother — checked 
the  exuberance  of  her  spirits,  and  called  her  reflect- 
ive faculties  into  exercise.  That  dear  mother  had 
been  wise  and  firm,  as  well  as  tender  in  the  manage- 
ment of  her  gifted  child,  who  had  the  good  sense 
and  gratitude  to  remember  her  admonitions  and 
reproofs,  as  thankfully  as  the  more  indulgent  and 
pleasant  evidences  of  her  affection.  In  a  sweet 
poem  to  her  mother's  memory,  written  some  years 
after  her  death,  Amelia  says  : — 

"  Oh  how  I  mourned  my  heedless  youth 

Thy  watchful  care  repaid  so  ill ; 
Yet  joyed  to  think  some  words  of  truth 

Sunk  in  my  soul  and  teach  me  still; 
Like  lamps  along  life's  fearful  way, 

To  me,  at  times,  those  truths  have  shone; 
And  oft  when  snares  around  me  lay, 

That  light  has  made  my  danger  known. 


78  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

Then  how  thy  grateful  child  has  blest 
Each  wise  reproof  thy  accents  bore  ! 

And  now  she  longs,  in  worlds  of  rest, 
To  dwell  with  thee  for  evermore." 

It  is  not  wonderful  that  this  lovely  girl,  brought 
into  society  when  young  people  of  her  age  were 
in  the  schoolroom,  should  have  been  much  admired 
and  sought  after.  A  vain  or  romantic  girl  would 
have  been  ruined  by  so  much  praise ;  a  cold-hearted 
and  selfish  one  would  have  taken  it  as  her  right, 
and  sought  only  her  own  pleasure ;  but  this  young 
lady  had  two  great  preservatives — her  deep  love  for 
her  father,  and  her  conscientious  desire  to  act  as  her 
pious  mother,  if  living,  would  have  approved. 

She  had  not  then,  nor  for  some  years  afterwards, 
the  guidance  of  that  unerring  light  which  religious 
conviction  gives  to  the  soul !  but  wise  early  training 
had  its  influence,  and  she  sought  and  loved  the 
society  of  the  good  and  intellectual.  Her  earliest 
friend,  on  whom  she  relied  for  advice,  to  whom  she 
gave  her  confidence,  was  Mrs.  John  Taylor,  a  lady 
distinguished  among  the  then  very  cultivated  society 
of  Norwich,  for  her  many  excellences  of  mind  and 
character.  Nothing  is  so  important  to  the  young 
as  the  friendships  they  form.  The  common  proverb 
contains  a  volume  of  wisdom  :  "  Tell  me  your  com- 
pany, and  I  will  tell  you  your  manners." 

Dr.  Alderson  was  intimate  with  most  of  those 
memorable  Norwich  families  whose  names  have 
gained  a  world-wide  celebrity.  The  Taylors,  the 


AMELIA    OPUS.  79 

Martineaus,  the  Gurneys,  and,  later  on,  Bishop 
Stanley  and  his  family.  In  such  a  circle,  there  was 
everything  to  stimulate  the  development  of  mind 
and  give  a  bias  to  genius  ;  and  the  young  mistress  of 
Dr.  Alderson's  house  was  soon  as  distinguished 
among  her  intellectual  friends  for  her  talents,  as 
she  was  beloved  for  the  sweetness  of  her  temper 
and  disposition. 

Although  she  did  not  apparently  contemplate 
becoming  an  authoress,  it  was  known  by  her  intimate 
friends  that  she  had  a  gift  of  poetic  expression ; 
and  many  sweet  stanzas  and  some  charming  songs 
of  her  composition  were  circulated  among  her 
friends.  In  after-years  she  was  destined  to  be 
known  and  celebrated  as  a  writer  both  in  prose  and 
verse,  of  works  admirable  for  purity,  pathos,  and 
sound  morality.  In  an  age  when  woman's  genius 
has  gained  great  triumphs  in  the  highest  depart- 
ments of  literature,  some  of  the  poems  of  Amelia 
Opie  have  retained  their  place  as  true  expressions 
of  genius.  And  one  is  just  now,  in  this  time  of 
war  and  carnage,  singularly  touching  : — 

THE  ORPHAN  EOT. 

Stay,  lady,  stay,  for  mercy's  sake, 

And  hear  a  helpless  orphan's  tale, 
Ah !  sure  my  looks  must  pity  wake, 

Tis  want  that  makes  my  ch'eek  so  pale. 
Yet  I  was  once  a  mother's  pride, 

And  my  brave  father's  hope  and  joy ; 
But  in  the  Nile's  proud  fight  he  died, 

And  I  am  now  an  orphan  boy. 


80  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

Poor  foolish  child  !  how  pleased  was  I 

When  news  of  Nelson's  victory  came, 
Along  the  crowded  streets  to  fly, 

And  see  the  lighted  windows  flame  ! 
To  force  me  home  my  mother  sought, 

She  could  not  bear  to  see  my  joy ; 
For  with  my  father's  life  'twas  bought, 

And  made  me  a  poor  orphan  boy. 

The  people's  shouts  were  long  and  loud, 

My  mother,  shuddering;  closed  her  ears ; 
"  Kejoice  !  rejoice  !  "  still  cried  the  crowd ; 

My  mother  answered  with  her  tears. 
"  Why  are  you  crying  thus,"  said  I, 

"  While  others  laugh  and  shout  with  joy?" 
She  kissed  me — and  with  such  a  sigh ! 

She  called  me  her  poor  orphan  boy. 

"  What  is  an  orphan  boy  ?"  I  cried, 

As  in  her  face  I  looked,  and  smiled; 
My  mother  through  her  tears  replied, 

"You'll  know  too  soon,  ill-fated  child!" 
And  now  they've  tolled  my  mother's  knell, 

And  I'm  no  more  a  parent's  joy ; 
O  lady,  I  have  learned  too  well 

What  'tis  to  be  an  orphan  boy! 

Oh  !  were  I  by  your  bounty  fed  ! 

Nay,  gentle  lady,  do  not  chide — 
Trust  me,  I  mean  to  earn  my  bread ; 

The  sailor's  orphan  boy  has  pride. 
Lady,  you  weep! — ha? — this  to  me? 

You'll  give  me  clothing,  food,  employ  ? 
Look  down,  dear  parents  !  look,  and  see 

Your  happy,  happy,  orphan  boy  ! 

One  of  the  occupations  of  her  childhood  was  so 
unusual  that  it  excites  astonishment.     The  coming 


AMELIA    OPIE.  81 

of  the  judges  and  the  opening  of  the  law-courts 
at  the  assizes,  of  course  was,  and  is,  the  periodical 
excitement  of  a  provincial  city.  All  the  children  in 
Norwich — from  the  noisy  urchins  who  throng  the 
streets,  to  the  little  curled  darlings  who  are  dressed 
and  taken  out  to  witness  the  ceremonial  of  the 
judges'  arrival,  or  the  procession  of  the  municipal 
authorities  who  escort  the  judicial  dignitaries  to  the 
cathedral — were  then,  as  now,  delighted  at  the  cere- 
monial and  the  show,  the  bustle  and  the  life  of  the 
scene.  Very  few,  probably,  ever  think  deeply  re- 
specting the  people  to  be  tried,  or  feel  much  curiosity 
about  the  solemn  proceedings  of  a  court  of  justice  ; 
but  the  young  Amelia,  from  a  very  early  age,  was 
full  of  interest  and  excitement  about  the  trials,  'and 
was  allowed  to  go — not  to  the  criminal  trials,  but 
to  the  nisi  prius  court — and  hear  the  pleadings  and 
witness  the  proceedings,  which  she  did  with  an 
absorbed  attention,  making  her  own  mental  com- 
ments, and  finding  her  love  of  truth  greatly  shocked 
by  the  contradictions,  prevarications,  and  careless- 
ness of  witnesses. 

The  deep  attention  and  intelligent  look  of  this 
young  observer  attracted  the  attention  of  many 
eminent  legal  men;  and,  to  her  own  surprise  at 
the  time,  and  her  amusement  as  she  recalled  it 
in  after-years,  she  was  noticed  and  talked  to  by 
learned  judges,  and  her  attendance  was  looked  for 
with  indulgent  interest. 

She  was  from  early  childhood  a  remarkably  good 

G 


82  WOMEN   WORTH   EMULATING. 

reader ;  and  it  is  probable,  as  the  bar  lias  always 
been  considered  a  school  of  oratory,  that  this,  in  the 
first  place,  both  excited  her  attention  and  induced 
her  father  to  permit  her  to  gratify  her  wish  of 
attending  the  trials. 

Some  years  after,  a  near  relative  of  hers  became 
one  of  our  most  eminent  judges — Baron  Alderson — 
which  must  have  been  a  great  gratification  to  such 
a  lover  of  forensic  eloquence  and  legal  distinction 
as  was  our  heroine  from  her  youth  up. 

Naturally,  a  young  lady  so  much  her  own  mistress 
and  so  admired,  mingling  in  the  most  fashionable 
circles  of  a  gay  and  wealthy  city,  would  early 
receive  those  attentions  which  some  young  girls 
think  the  crowning  distinction  of  early  womanhood. 
But  with  all  her  warmth  of  feeling  and  fancy,  Miss 
Alderson  was  not  one  of  those  young  ladies  who 
think  it  inevitable  that,  as  soon  as  they  are  grown 
up,  they  should  fall  in  love.  She  loved  her  father 
so  fondly  that  she  wished  to  devote  her  life  to  him ; 
and  so  her  first  youth  passed  away,  and  left  her 

"  In  maiden  meditation — 
Fancy  free." 

She  had  paid  many  visits  to  London,  and  was 
known  as  a  writer  of  great  promise  before  her  heart 
was  troubled,  or  blessed,  with  any  emotion  that 
equalled  her  filial  love. 

In  the  year  1781-2,  there  was  in  London  an  artist, 
whose  genius  excited  the  utmost  admiration,  not 
unmingled  with  surprise,  named  Opie,  who  had  been 


AMELIA    OPIE.  83 

brought  from  his  native  Cornwall,  where  his  youth- 
ful genius  had  burst  through  all  the  impediments 
of  a  humble  station,  a  very  limited  education,  and 
a  life  of  toil.  Dr.  Walcot,  when  visiting  Cornwall, 
saw  some  pictures  by  a  self-taught  artist  which 
ai'rested  his  attention.  He  was  told  the  name,  cir- 
cumstances, and  age  of  the  painter,  and  he  set  off  to 
find  him.  Opie  was  working  in  a  saw- pit,  when  he 
was  called  out  to  answer  the  question,  "  Can  you 
paint  ?  "  and  the  reply  he  gave  was  both  rustic  and 
ready,  "  Oh,  yes ;  I  can  pe'aint  a  farmyard,  and  King 
George."  The  interview  ended  in  the  youth  accom- 
panying Dr.  Walcot  to  London,  where,  by  diligent 
study  and  ceaseless  industry  supplementing  his 
natural  genius,  he  became  not  merely  a  rustic  wonder 
to  be  stared  at,  patronized,  and  then  neglected  by 
aristocratic  idlers,  but  a  winner  of  a  foremost  place 
among  the  most  gifted  artists  of  the  age. 

It  was,  however,  in  1797,  a  great  surprise  to 
many  circles  that  the  beautiful  and  gifted  Amelia 
Alderson  should  have  accepted  the  man  whom 
Allan  Cunningham  calls  an  "  inspired  peasant." 
She  was  gay,  fond  of  and  shining  in  society,  and 
visited  in  the  highest  circles.  He  was  grave,  fond 
of  retirement,  rather  eccentric  in  conversation,  and 
devoted  to  his  noble  art.  In  looks  and  manners, 
they  were  a  contrast  to  each  other ;  but  some  con- 
trasts harmonize  admirably.  The  solid  worth  and 
true  genius  of  Opie  which  had  raised  him  to  emi- 
nence, won  her  esteem  and  regard,  and  her  high 


84  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

estimate  of  a  wife's  duties  made  her  in  all  respects 
an  admirable  help-meet. 

New  duties  and  new  trials  both  came  to  her,  for 
an  artist's  life  often  abounds  in  cares  and  reverses ; 
and  Opie,  though  an  admired  and  successful  painter, 
was  not  without  many  anxieties,  and  had  a  hard 
struggle  for  some  years  to  keep  the  eminence  he 
had  attained. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Mrs.  Opie's  pen  was  most 
active,  and  she  wrote  some  stories  that  were  greatly 
estimated  for  their  moral  excellence  and  literary 
beauty.  She  displayed  a  great  knowledge  of  the 
human — the  female — heart,  its  strength  and  its 
weakness;  and  the  tenderness  of  her  own  nature 
made  her  excel  in  pathetic  descriptions. 

"Father  and  Daughter/'  and  "Tales  of  the  Heart," 
have  retained  their  place  among  the  purest  works  of 
fiction ;  while  her  story,  "  White  Lies,"  had  a  great 
popularity,  as  useful  to  that  large  class  of  thought- 
less young  people  who  let  their  tongues  run  on, 
without  caring  to  be  accurate  in  what  they  say, 
doing  often  an  immense  amount  of  mischief  by  care- 
lessly mixing  up  truth  and  falsehood,  heedless  of 
consequences.  Would  that  all  would  ponder  those 
capital  lines  of  the  Poet  Laureate — 

"  A  lie  which  is  half  a  truth  is  ever  the  blackest  of  lies ; 
A  lie  which  is  all  a  lie  may  be  met  and  fought  outright ; 
But  a  lie  which  is  part  a  truth  is  a  harder  matter  to  fight." 

Nine  years  of  happy  wedded  life  ended  in  widow- 
hood, and  Mrs.  Opie  returned  to  her  beloved  father's 


AMELIA    OPIE.  85 

house  and  her  native  city  as  a  permanent  resident. 
Dr.  Alderson  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  cheered  by 
the  duteous  attendance  of  his  devoted  daughter, 
who  at  length  was  left,  by  his  death,  alone  in  the 
world,  a  childless  widow. 

It  was  during  her  early  widowhood  that  her  mind 
underwent  a  change  on  the  most  important  of  all 
subjects — vital  religion.  Hitherto  she  had  lived, 
as  thousands  of  amiable  people  are  content  to  do, 
without  any  deep  thought  or  faithful  searchings  of 
heart,  as  to  the  real  condition  of  her  soul.  Content 
merely  with  a  name  to  live,  and  not  feeling  herself 
a  sinner,  and  looking  to  Jesus  as  the  only  Saviour. 

Ah,  my  dear  young  reader  !  multitudes  are  satis- 
fied to  pass  through  .the  daily  round  of  their  simple 
duties,  and  think  they  have  done  all  that  is  required 
of  them,  if  they  are  amiable  and  kindly,  and  avoid 
all  flagrant  offences  against  the  moral  law.  Lulled 
by  self-complacency  into  a  sense  of  security,  they 
cast  aside  all  serious  thought,  all  salutary  fear,  as 
to  their  spiritual  state.  The  answer  to  the  solemn 
demand,  "  Give  Me  thy  heart,"  has  never  been 
made.  Prayer  has  been  merely  a  daily  formula, 
perhaps  endeared  by  memories  of  childhood,  or 
sentimentally  practised  as  a  salutary  habit.  The 
real  supplicatory  spirit,  the  intense  yearning  for 
communion  with  God  in  Christ,  as  an  ever-present 
Guide,  Saviour,  and  Comforter,  has  never  been 
realized. 

In  this  important  matter,  a  great  change  occurred 


86  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

in  the  experience  of  Mrs.  Opie.  She  had  been  in- 
timate from  her  youth  with  the  family  at  Earlham 
Hall.  Elizabeth  Fry,  and  one  of  her  sisters,  Pris- 
cilla  Gurney — who  seems  to  have  been  by  all  testi- 
monies a  true  embodiment  of  spiritual  and  mental 
excellence — commended  spiritual  religion  to  her 
conscience.  Correspondence  with  them  brought 
serious  subjects  prominently  before  the  mind  of 
Mrs.  Opie,  and  the  ministrations  and  letters  of 
Joseph  John  Gurney,  led  her  to  deep  reflection  on 
religion.  She  left  the  Presbyterian  (or  Unitarian  ?) 
connection  into  which  she  had  been  born,  and  after 
due — indeed  long  deliberation — united  with  the 
Society  of  Friends. 

The  name  of  the  section  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
with  which  she  united,  is  very  secondary  to  the  fact 
that  she  became  a  devout  Christian ;  and  that  one 
of  the  first  efforts  of  her  awakened  soul  was  to  lead 
her  beloved  father,  as  Apollos  of  old  was  led,  into 
the  way  of  truth  more  perfectly.  A  prayer  that 
she  wrote  down  on  this  subject  is  so  beautiful  that 
I  recommend  it  to  my  young  readers  : — 

"  0  Thou,  ' the  .God  that  hearest  prayer/  and,  even 
amidst  innumerable  choirs  of  angels  for  ever  glorify- 
ing Thee  and  hymning  Thy  praise;  canst  hearken  to 
the  softest  breathings  of  a  supplicating  and  wretched 
heart ;  deign,  Lord,  to  let  the  prayers  of  a  child  for 
a  beloved  parent  come  up  before  Thee.  In  grateful 
return  for  that  life  he  gave  me  here,  and  which, 
under  Thy  good  providence,  he  has  tenderly  watched 


AMELIA   OPIE.  87 

over,  and  tried  to  render  happy,  enable  me,  0  Lord ! 
to  be  the  humble  means  of  leading  him  to  Thee.  Oh, 
let  us  thirst,  and  come  together  to  the  waters ;  and 
'buy  wine  and  milk  without  money  and  without 
price;'  and  grant,  O  Lord!  that  before  we  go 
hence  and  are  no  more  seen  of  men,  our  united  voices 
may  ascend  to  Thee  in  praises  and  blessings  !  Grant 
that  we  may  together  call  upon  the  name  of  Him 
who  has  redeemed  us  by  His  most  precious  blood, 
that  in  that  blood  our  manifold  sins  may  be  washed 
away."  * 

Mrs.  Opie  was  ever  charitable  to  the  very  utmost 
of  her  means,  but  deepening  religious  convictions 
gave  a  wider  sphere  and  a  wiser  purpose  to  her 
benevolence.  Her  loving  heart  seemed  ever  like  a 
temple  of  peace  and  hope,  where  all  gentle  and 
generous  thoughts  prompted  to  deeds  of  benevolence 
and  mercy. 

She  made,  in  her  later  years,  many  excursions  to 
the  Continent  and  to  different  portions  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  kept  up  her  literary  intercourse  and  the 
exercise  of  her  pen,  but  thought  it  suitable  to  give 
up  writing  fiction, — a  decision  which  tells  more  for 
her  honest  fidelity  to  her  convictions,  than  to  the 
clearness  of  her  reasoning  power.  Such  fiction  as 
she  wrote  was  Truth  exemplified — principles  em- 
bodied and  wrought  out — and  thus  brought  home  to 
many  minds  not  otherwise  accessible.  Multitudes 
of  writers  of  the  most  enlightened  Christian  convic- 
*  Life  of  Amelia  Opie,  by  Lucy  Brightwell. 


00  WOMEN   WORTH   EMULATING. 

tions,  in  our  time,  wisely  use  the  outward  vehicle  of 
fiction  to  convey  the  deepest  truths  of  social  life, 
and  believe  that  imagination,  like  every  good  gift, 
was  bestowed  to  be  used,  and  consecrated  in  its  use. 
However,  let  us  honour  a  conscientious  scruple  in  a 
great  writer,  even  though  it  hampered  her  powers 
and  impeded  her  influence. 

Her  age  was  beautiful  and  dignified.  Every  good 
cause  received  her  aid — prominently  the  Anti-slavery 
Society,  and  the  advancement  of  education  :  nor 
were  the  claims  of  the  animal  world  neglected — 
man's  faithful  dumb  companions  and  servants.  In 
a  time  when  animal  wrongs  and  sufferings  were  too 
often  ignored,  she  ever  showed  and  taught  mercy 
as  a  Christian  duty. 

Thus,  amid  her  many  elevated  pursuits  the  years 
passed  calmly  on.  She  built  a  house  for  herself  at 
Norwich,  on  Castle  Hill,  close  to  the  old  fortress 
she  had  known  from  earliest  years,  and  amid  the 
scenes  she  loved.  The  inevitably  painful  experience 
of  advancing  age — that  of  the  loss  of  early  friends — 
tried  her  affectionate  heart ;  but  she  was  so  loving, 
that  she  was  sure  to  win  love  from  a  generation  suc- 
ceeding those  with  whom  she  had  set  out  in  life. 
Miss  Lucy  Brightwell,  her  friend  and  biographer, 
and  others  paid  her  the  tender  attention  of  friend- 
ship as  her  infirmities  increased. 

She  was  last  in  London  at  the  Great  Exhibition 
in  1851 ;  and,  in  common  with  many  noble  spirits, 
hailed  the  "  rich  dawn  of  an  ampler  day,"  in  hope 


AMELIA    OPIE.  89 

that  "  fruitful  strifes  and  rivalries  of  peace  "  would 
hasten  the  coming  of  the  time  when  men  should 
learn  war  no  more.  Sweet  and  holy  anticipations  ! 
not  as  yet  realized,  but  sure  to  come  ;  for  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

Mrs.  Opie  had  become  lame,  but  otherwise  time 
had  dealt  gently  with  her.  The  beaming  sweetness 
of  her  countenance  remained  to  testify  of  peace 
within,  and  so,  by  gentle  gradations,  the  end  drew 
near.  But  her  dismissal  was  not  to  be  without  a 
struggle.  Her  bodily  sufferings  for  the  last  six 
weeks  were  severe,  but  were  borne  with  all  the  pious, 
chastened  resignation  of  a  Christian.  Amid  great 
pain  and  weakness,  she  said  to  her  cousin,  "  All  is 
peace;"  and  afterwards  to  Mr.  S.  Gurney,  "All  is 
mercy."  Brief,  yet  comprehensive  testimony,  rich 
in  all  the  fulness  of  the  gospel  of  Christ ! 

On  the  2nd  of  December,  1853,  she  closed  her 
long  and  valuable  life,  leaving  not  only  her  writings 
to  delight,  but  her  example  to  instruct,  her  country- 
women. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


SARAH    MARTIN    AND  THE   LAST  DUCHESS 
OF    GORDON. 

LOWLY  AND  LOFTY  LESSONS. 

"  One  in  Christ."     "  Eich  and  poor  meet  together  :  the  Lord  is 
the  Maker  of  them  all." 

T  must  be  a  source  of  rejoicing  to  every 
reflective  mind  that  examples  of  devoted 
lives  may  be  selected  from  the  most 
widely  different  spheres  of  social  life. 
Faith  in  Christ,  consecration  of  the 
heart,  and  devotion  to  the  work  He  gives 
His  faithful  ones  to  do,  is  the  strong  bond  of  union 
that  links  together  the  lowly  and  the  lofty  who  are 
His.  Nor  are  we  to  suppose,  as  many  young  people 
of  the  middle  ranks  are  apt  to  do,  that  the  path  of 
the  rich  and"  noble  is  always  comparatively  smooth 
when  they  are  led  to  think  of  religion,  and  to  resolve 
to  set  out  as  spiritual  pilgrims  on  the  narrow  way 
that  leads  to  life  eternal.  Often,  in  proportion  to 
the  splendour  of  station  is  the  amount  of  tempta- 


THE    LAST    DUCHESS    OF     CORC 
MISS     BRODIE     REPROVED     BY  A    UTTL 


SARAH    HARTIU.  93 

tion  and  hindrance.  Loftiness  of  social  position 
is  frequently  a  stern  limitation  to  freedom  of  action. 

Yet,  as  in  all  things  the  Christian  can  come  off 
conqueror  through  Him  that  helpeth  him,  many 
examples  are  found  in  modern  biography  of  women 
whose  social  status  has  exhibited  the  greatest  pos- 
sible contrast,  yet  whose  personal  experience  and 
life-work  have  plainly  shown  the  oneness  of  their 
hope,  and  the  true  spiritual  kinship  of  all  believers. 

I  propose  giving  my  young  readers  a  brief  sketch 
of  two  lives,  taken  from  entirely  different  classes  of 
society,  each  of  which  teaches  them  a  most  valuable 
lesson  for  time  and  eternity.  I  select  that  noble 
Christian  lady,  the  last  DUCHESS  OP  GORDON,  and 
the  humble  seamstress  and  pious  philanthropist, 
SARAH  MARTIN,  of  Great  Yarmouth. 

I  take  the  last  first.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
present  century,  a  young  girl  might  be  seen  at 
Yarmouth  going  to  and  from  her  work  as  a  dress- 
maker's apprentice.  There  was  nothing  remarkable 
in  her  appearance,  except  perhaps  a  look  of  keen 
observation  and  intelligent  thoughtfulness.  She 
was  an  orphan,  and  had  been  reared  by  an  aged, 
pious  widow,  her  grandmother.  Some  schooling 
.  had  been  given  her,  and  she  was  fond  of  reading 
in  a  desultory  way. 

It  is  rather  a  curious  fact  in  the  mental  history 
of  the  orphan  Sarah  Martin,  that  she  had  a  positive 
dislike  to  religion  and  the  books  that  inculcated  it, 


94  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

the  Bible  especially.  Many  young  people  are  in- 
different, or  mere  formalists  in  the  matter  of  religion ; 
but  I  think  very  few  indeed  can  charge  themselves 
with  so  strong  a  feeling  as  dislike. 

At  the  time  when  Sarah  Martin  was  a  school-girl, 
the  Bible  was  often  made  a  lesson  or  a  punishment 
book ;  and  but  little  was  done  to  make  its  truths 
attractive  or  clear  to  the  minds  of  the  young. 
Pictorial  aids,  sweet  narratives,  poetic  elucidations, 
and  interesting  questions  were  rarely  used — never, 
I  may  say,  in  the  ordinary  schools  of  the  time ;  so 
that  the  Scriptures  seemed  like  a  sandy  desert,  and 
young  feet  soon  grew  weary  in  traversing  it.  But 
our  gracious  Lord  does  not  leave  Himself  without  a 
witness,  where  there  is  a  thinking  mind.  Frivolity 
and  the  love  of  pleasure  are  the  thorns  that  most 
frequently  choke  the  good  seed  of  wisdom  and 
truth. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen,  Sarah  heard  a  sermon  that 
impressed  her,  from  the  words  :  "  Knowing  the  ter- 
rors of  the  law,  we  persuade  men."  This  was  a  ray 
of  light  to  her,  but  the  dawn  came  slowly.  It  was 
however  a  great  matter  that,  with  the  growing  light, 
she  was  able  to  see  herself  as  she  was — a  sinner. 
She  began  to  read  the  Bible  and  examine  for  her- 
self; but  with  at  first  no  other  result  than  great 
self-condemnation,  and  some  confusion  of  mind 
from  theological  books.  But  as  she  beautifully  says 
in  her  simple  memoir,*  "  Seeing  salvation,  not  in 

*  Life  of  Sarah  Martin,  p.  9.     Religious  Tract  Society. 


SARAH    MAETIN.  95 

its  commencement  only,  but  from  first  to  last  to  be 
entirely  of  grace,  I  was  made  free ;  and  looking 
upon  a  once  crucified,  but  now  glorified  Saviour, 
with  no  more  power  of  my  own  than  the  praying 
thief  had  upon  the  cross,  I  also  found  peace." 

This  change  of  heart  was  followed,  as,  when  real, 
it  ever  is,  by  a  change  of  life.  She  began  not  only 
to  search,  but  to  love  and  rejoice  in  the  Scriptures. 
The  Bible  was  the  companion  of  her  leisure  hours, 
and  its  precepts  the  guide  of  her  actions.  She  was 
conscious  that  her  former  hardness  of  heart  and 
dislike  of  religion  had  been  a  trial  to  the  beloved 
aged  parent  who  had  protected  her  orphan  child- 
hood ',  and  we  can  imagine  the  joy  there  was  between 
the  widow  and  the  orphan  when  they  were  one  in 
the  faith  and  the  hope  of  the  gospel. 

"  Did  you  ever  despair  of  my  conversion  ?"  she 
asked  of  her  aged  guardian. 

"  No  ;  I  always  prayed  for  you,  my  child,"  was 
the  reply. 

Ah,  dear  readers,  what  constant,  hallowed  incense 
of  prayer  is  rising  from  loving  hearts  for  many  of 
you  !  Long  ere  you  could  pray  for  yourselves,  long 
after  you  have  wilfully  neglected  prayer,  the  suppli- 
cations have  been  and  are  continued.  Think  of  it, 
and  give  your  pious  kindred  the  greatest  joy  that 
you  can  afford  them,  the  sweet  assurance  that  their 
prayers  are  answered. 

It  was  quite  in  accordance  with  the  true  spirit  of 
Christianity,  that  as  soon  as  Sarah  Martin's  heart 


96  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

was  right  she  should  wish  to  be  useful  to  others. 
Christianity  is  an  active  principle — swift,  cheering, 
and  vivifying  as  light. 

She  began,  as  many  of  our  best  young  people 
begin  to  work  for  their  Master,  by  teaching  in  the 
Sunday  School.  Here  she  found  ready  access  to 
the  hearts  of  the  children  of  her  class,  and  through 
them  to  their  parents.  Some  memorable  conver- 
sions through  her  instrumentality  followed. 

Then  she  had  a  strong  desire  to  visit  the  poor  in 
the  workhouse.  Her  wish  was  granted ;  and  here, 
too,  she  had  almost  immediate  evidence  that  she 
was  in  the  path  of  duty.  District  visitations,  Bible 
classes  and  readings,  home  missionary  activities,  are 
all  more  modern  plans  of  usefulness  which  existed 
not  then ;  and  the  sight  to  the  sick  and  aged  poor 
of  a  kind  young  face  bending  in  pity  over  them,  and 
a  gentle  voice  pleading  with  them  and  reading  to 
them,  must  have  been  as  a  revelation  of  Heaven  to 
many  whose  hold  on  earth  had  been  painful  and 
wearisome. 

In  the  workhouse,  Sarah  Martin's  first  work  was 
found.  She  did  not  confine  her  ministrations 
merely  to  the  aged  and  the  sick.  She  very  wisely 
sought  to  do  good  to  the  children,  then  more  likely 
to  be  trained  for  crime  than  for  anything  else,  in  our 
pauper  houses.  Any  man  who  could  read,  and  per- 
haps write  a  little,  was  selected  from  among  the 
paupers  as  schoolmaster,  irrespective  of  character 
and  fitness.  Of  three,  whom  she  in  the  course  of 


SARAH    MARTIN.  97 

years  came  in  contact  with  at  the  workhouse,  two 
were  drunkards,  and  one  was  a  thief !  With  her 
clear  mind  and  sympathising  heart,  she  pitied  both 
the  teachers  and  the  taught,  and  strove,  not  in  vain, 
to  do  them  all  good. 

But  her  special  life-work  commenced  in  1819, 
when  she  was  about  twenty-six  years  of  age.  She 
then  gained  admission  to  the  prison.  Here  her' 
plans  were  most  practical.  She  set  herself  to  shut 
out  indolence,  that  seducer  to  crime,  and  her  skill 
as  a  seamstress  gave  her  great  help  in  teaching  the 
women  and  girls.  She  learned  straw-plaiting  and 
the  making  of  bread  seals,  much  used  then,  and 
some  other  occupations,  so  as  to  instruct  the  men 
in  the  prison.  She  knew  that  all  reformation  is  but 
transitory  that  does  not  touch  the  heart  and  give 
some  light  to  the  soul ;  so  in  much  diffidence,  yet 
with  devout  resolution,  she  began  to  give  some 
religious  instruction.  She  read  the  Scriptures  on  the 
Sunday,  and  taught  and  encouraged  the  prisoners 
to  read,  and  instituted  and  conducted  for  them  a 
devotional  service,  there  being  there  then  no  gaol 
chaplain. 

Meanwhile,  of  course  her  business,  on  which  she 
depended  for  bread,  suffered.  She  gave  up  one 
entire  working  day  in  the  week  to  teaching  in- 
dustrial pursuits  in  the  prison.  A  lady  paid  her 
for  another  day,  as  if  she  were  at  work  at  dress- 
making, so  that  she  might  devote  herself  more 
fully  to  these  waifs  and  strays  of  humanity.  Then 

H 


98  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

she  set  on  foot  plans  to  preserve  the  prisoners,  on 
their  release,  from  the  temptations  of  drunkenness 
and  idleness,  and  was  the  means  of  reclaiming 
many  from  the  ranks  of  crime  to  tread  the  path  of 
honesty. 

The  Sabbath  day  of  course  was  hers  to  spend,  as 
the  Lord  appointed,  in  doing  good  to  the  souls  of 
men.  In  her  case  we  see  what  a  blessed  institu- 
tion the  Lord's-day  is ;  how  it  affords  to  the  world- 
weary  and  the  criminal  a  means  of  spiritual  refresh- 
ment and  enlightenment;  how  the  Christian,  who 
has  to  toil  for  the  bread  that  perisheth,  may  on  this 
day  break  the  bread  of  life,  and  rescue,  from  the 
hard  grip  of  worldly  business,  time  to  do  and  to 
get  good.  Oh,  dear  young  reader,  cherish  your 
Sabbaths  ! 

Twenty-three  years  of  continued  usefulness  were 
permitted  to  this  devoted  woman.  For  the  first 
half  of  these  her  services  were  unnoticed  by  any  of 
the  influential  of  the  earth.  She  did  them  to  the 
Lord — that  was  enough  for  her.  Fees,  reward,  or 
praise,  she  never  sought.  Of  course  she  had  the 
iuward  recompense  of  an  approving  conscience; 
and  the  sweet  tribute  came  to  her  of  the  tear  of 
repentance,  the  smile  of  humble  gratitude,  and  the 
blessing  of  those  who  were  ready  to  perish. 

But  at  length  public  sympathy  was  aroused. 
Inspectors  of  prisons  and  town  councillors  were 
startled  into  attention  to  her  methods  of  reforma- 
tion. The  prison  and  its  inmates  were  so  altered, 


SAEAH    MAKTJN.  99 

they  could  not  but  notice  it.  Her  simple  history 
and  humble  means  became  known  and  honoured. 
She  was  compelled — reluctantly  on  her  part — to 
receive  some  acknowledgment,  and  the  sum  of 
twelve  pounds  a  year  was  forced  on  her  acceptance, 
which,  with  the  interest  of  some  three  hundred 
pounds  that  she  inherited  on  her  grandmother's 
death,  comprised  her  means  of  livelihood. 

Very  touching  and  sweet  were  the  little  addresses 
which  she  composed  for  the  prisoners,  and  also 
for  the  workhouse  children.  Always  warm  from 
the  heart,  and  vital  with  her  own  experience,  were 
her  teachings,  and  that  made  her  so  successful  in 
winning  souls  from  Satan's  dominion. 

Never  of  robust  health,  her  constitution  became 
seriously  impaired;  and  from  April,  1843,  to  the 
October  of  that  year,  she  became  the  tenant  of 
a  sick  room,  prostrated  by  a  painful  illness,  from 
which,  after  much  suffering,  she  was  released  by 
death.  Her  pen,  during  intervals  of  her  pain,  was 
used  when  she  could  no  longer  speak  to  those  for 
whom  she  had  laboured ;  she  wrote  affectionately 
to  them,  and  one  address  she  prepared  to  be  read 
to  them  the  Sunday  after  her  death. 

Her  own  summary  is  the  best  close  to  this  sketch : 
"In  the  absence  of  all  human  sufficiency  on  my 
part,  whether  of  money  or  influence  or  experience, 
it  is  plain  that  God  alone  inclined  my  heart,  in- 
structed me  by  His  Word,  and  carried  me  forward 
in  hope  and  peace.  Hence  arises  the  boundless 


100  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

encouragement  which  it  presents  to  others ;  for  the 
most  humble  individual  may,  in  any  department  of 
the  providence  of  God,  build  on  the  promises  as 
firm  as  eternity.  ' Whatever  ye  shall  ask  in  my 
name,  that  will  I  do.'  Yes ;  for  grace  will  prompt 
the  prayer,  and  make  it  in  accordance  with  the 
Divine  mind  and  will." 

We  are  differently  led  j  and  such  a  work  as  Sarah 
Martin  did  is  not  appointed  to  many ;  but  all 
workers  in  the  Lord's  vineyard  can  emulate  her 
self-sacrifice,  her  diligence,  her  faith,  her  love,  and 
thus  live  blessing  and  blessed. 


ELIZABETH,    DUCHESS    OF    GORDON, 

was  descended  from  the  noble  Scottish  family 
of  Brodie.  Her  mother  died  when  she  was  six 
years  of  age.  Two  maiden  aunts  at  Elgin  then 
took  charge  of  her,  and  though  motherless,  she 
had  a  happy,  healthy,  mirthful  childhood.  She 
was  removed  for  education  to  a  boarding-school 
near  London ;  and  without  anything  in  her  career 
aut  of  the  ordinary  course  of  a  young  lady  of  her 
rank,  she  made  progress  in  all  that  she  was  taught, 
and  grew  up  dignified  in  person  and  graceful  in 
manners. 

Her  father  seems  to  have  been  careful  to  instil 


ELIZABETH,    DUCHESS    OP   GORDON.  lOl 

humility  into  her  mind;  and  she  seems  always  to 
have,  remembered,  as  well  as  recorded  in  her 
journal,  his  saying,  "  If  I  did  all  I  ought  to  do,  I 
should  still  be  an  unprofitable  servant." 

At  nineteen,  Miss  Brodie  was  introduced  into 
society,  and  was  speedily  much  admired.  She 
seems  to  have  mingled  with  a  gay  circle,  who 
thought  that,  if  they  gave  a  sort  of  patronage  to 
religion  by  attendance  at  church  in  the  morning, 
they  might  spend  the  evening  in  pleasure — even 
at  cards  !  A  reproof  that  sank  deep  came  to  this 
young  lady  from  a  very  unexpected  quarter.  She 
was  very  fond  of  children,  and  a  beautiful  child 
of  three  or  four  years  old  being  in  the  house  she 
was  visiting,  she  amused  herself  by  playing  with 
the  little  creature  and  winning  its  love.  One  day, 
however,  when  she  called  to  her  little  playfellow,  the 
child  would  not  come,  but  turned  away,  saying, — 
"  No ;  you  are  bad — you  play  cards  on  Sunday." 
Struck  to  the  heart  by  this  admonition,  she  replied 
sadly,  "  I  was  wrong ;  I  will  not  do  it  again ; " 
and  she  resolutely  kept  her  word.  Who  can  say 
but  that  one  little  seed  of  truth,  wafted  on  an 
infant's  breath,  sunk  deep  into  the  recesses  of  her 
mind  to  spring  up  vigorously  in  after-days. 

In  1813,  she  married  the  Marquis  of  Huntly, 
and  for  many  years  her  life  resembled  that  of 
other  merely  fashionable  people.  She  was  not 
blessed  with  children ;  and  she,  and  her  lord,  who 
was  many  years  her  senior,  travelled  much  on  the 


102  WOMEN   WOKTH    EMULATING, 

Continent,  and  saw  the  brilliant  life  of  many  great 
cities,  as  well  as  that  of  London  and  Edinburgh. 

This  lady  lived  to  record  that  her  career  was  un- 
profitable and  idle.  She  was  not  happy  in  this  state. 
There  was  a  latent  perception  that  life  was  given 
for  a  higher  purpose  than  dressing  and  visiting, 
laughing  and  talking — that  under  the  thin  veil  of 
pleasure  there  lurked  selfishness  and  vice — and 
her  moral  sense  was  aroused.  In  her  distress,  she 
sought  refuge  in  her  Bible, — that  fortress  for  the 
weary  soul — that  asylum  for  the  sin-sick  spirit. 
The  Scriptures  soon  became  to  her — what  they  are 
to  every  earnest  student — a  guide  through  the 
labyrinth  of  the  world. 

One  day  she  was  found  by  gay  companions  read- 
ing the  Bible,  and  they  ventured  to  ridicule  her, 
and  spread  a  report  that  the  Marchioness  of  Huntly 
had  turned  Methodist.  The  weapon  of  ridicule, 
while  it  alarms  the  weak,  is  often  a  useful  goad  to 
arouse  the  strong.  Lady  Huntly  was  not  a  person 
to  be  laughed  out  of  her  convictions.  More  than 
ever  she  resolved  to  persevere  in  a  new  endeavour 
to  attain  a  higher  life  than  she  had  yet  lived,  and 
grace  was  given  her  to  begin  to  work  for  God  and 
man  with  a  zeal  that  never  wearied. 

At  Kimbolton  Castle  her  entire  change  in  the 
mode  of  employing  her  time  was  first  known  among 
her  circle.  Lady  Olivia  Sparrow,  of  pious  memory, 
became  her  friend,  and  some  few  like-minded 
women  of  rank  were  her  companions. 


ELIZABETH,    DUCHESS   OF   GORDON.  103 

In  1827,  the  old  Duke  of  Gordon  died,  and  Lord 
and  Lady  Huntly  came  from  Geneva  to  take  posses- 
sion of  Gordon  Castle.  Lady  Huntly  was  thirty- 
three  years  of  age  when  she  became  Duchess  of 
Gordon.  Her  distinguished  rank  only  deepened 
her  sense  of  responsibility.  She  had  felt  the 
burden  of  sin,  and  the  sweet  sense  of  release  from 
that  burden  by  being  enabled  to  cast  it  off  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus;  and  nothing  was  stronger,  as  a. dis- 
tinct purpose  with  her,  than  to  live  by  faith  and 
prayer  a  life  of  usefulness.  With- this  purpose  kept 
steadily  in  view,  her  coronet  did  not  so  much 
ennoble  her,  as  she  added  a  lustre  to  it. 

Of  course  she  had  her  difficulties  and  seasons  of 
depression,  for  her  piety  was  likely  to  be  misunder- 
stood and  misrepresented.  Once,  when  somewhat 
low-spirited,  it  is  recorded  in  her  life,  she  was 
visiting  a  ruined  old  castle  on  the  Gordon  estates, 
and  saw  some  stone  letters  over  a  fire-place  that 
none  of  the  company  could  read.  She  pensively 
lingered  after  the  rest,  when  on  a  sudden  a  sunbeam 
streamed  through  the  hall,  and  she  read  in  its  light 
the  words  taken  from  an  old  version  of  the  Bible  : 

"  To    THAES    THAT  LOVE     GoD    ALL     THINGS    ViRKIS    TO 

THE  BEST."  She  recorded,  "  It  was  a  message  from 
the  Lord  to  my  soul,  and  came  to  me  with  such 
power  that  I  went  on  my  way  rejoicing."* 

She  resolved,  as  far  as  lay  within  her  own  pro- 

*  Life  of  the  last  Duchess  of  Gordon.  By  Kev.  A.  Moody 
Stuart. 


101  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

vince,  to  regulate  her  house  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 
Her  discretion  and  sweetness  prevented  her  pious 
plans  from  annoying  the  duke,  who  did  not  then 
see  as  she  saw ;  but  instead  of  his  being  estranged, 
his  affections  were  increased,  for  he  knew  that  lofty 
principle  guided  her  actions.  When  calamities 
came — as  a  fire  that  destroyed  one  wing  of  Gordon 
Castle,  and  a  great  flood  that  not  only  devastated 
the  duke's  property  but  injured  his  poorer  tenantry 
— he  said  in  his  grief,  "  I  have  been  unfortunate  in 
everything  except  a  good  wife." 

The  establishment  of  schools  on  her  estate  was 
the  first  work  of  benevolence  on  which  the  duchess 
entered.  In  these  she  took  deep  interest,  visiting 
them  herself  and  questioning  the  children,  the 
infant  school  especially.  A  pretty  incident  is  re- 
corded of  a  visit  once  made  to  the  latter.  She  took 
a  bright  little  boy  on  her  lap,  and  put  the  question 
to  the  children  who  gathered  round  her  knees, 
"  What  does  Jesus  mean  where  He  says,  (  Except 
ye  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? '"  Nothing  is  harder  some- 
times (even  to  far  elder  folks  than  were  listening 
to  the  duchess)  than  a  definition,  and  therefore  it  is 
not  surprising  that  she  failed  to  get  an  answer. 
Turning  to  the  child  on  her  lap,  she  repeated  the 
question ;  and  he  said,  "  A  little  child  kens  (knows) 
that  it  can  do  naething  its  lane  "  (alone,  or  of  itself) . 
It  certainly  was  a  beautiful  exposition,  never  to  be 
forgotten  by  the  noble  lady  who  once  again  heard 


ELIZABETH,    DUCHESS   OP    GORDON.  105 

from  the  lips  of  a  child  a  blessed  truth  :  "  Out  of 
the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  He  perfecteth 
praise." 

The  losses  of  property  recorded,  rather  limited  the 
Duchess  of  Gordon's  liberality  ;  and  her  visitations 
and  benefactions  to  the  poor,  her  schools,  and  other 
charities  taxed  her  personal  resources  to  their  full 
extent.  In  the  spring  of  1835,  while  the  family 
were  out  at  dinner,  her  jewel  chest  was  stolen  from 
their  town  house  in  Belgrave  Square.  Scarcely 
any  but  the  plainest  of  her  ornaments  was  left  her. 
Her  comment  on  this  was,  "  My  treasure  is  where 
thieves  do  not  break  through  and  steal.'" 

Queen  Adelaide,  who  was  a  personal  friend,  sym- 
pathising in  her  loss,  sent  her  a  handsome  present 
of  her  own  favourite  jewels — a  gift  valued  for  the 
spirit  of  the  giver,  more  than  for  any  other  worth. 

In  1836,  the  Duchess  of  Gordon  became  a  widow. 
She  had  the  inexpressible  satisfaction  of  seeing  that 
change  of  heart  in  her  beloved  husband  which  is 
the  Christian's  greatest  consolation  in  bereavement. 
Her  faithfulness  was  thus  recompensed,  and  her 
deep  sorrow  sanctified. 

Removing  to  her  dower  house,  Huntly  Lodge, 
henceforth  her  life  and  fortune  were  devoted  to 
extending  the  Saviour's  kingdom.  Her  work  in 
founding  schools  was  followed  by  building  places  of 
worship.  To  this  end,  when  she  had  not  money  to 
give,  she  devoted  relics  of  former  splendour.  A 
gold  vase,  worth  £1,200  was  so  dedicated.  Then, 


106  WOMEN    WOBTH    EMULATING. 

in  process  of  time,  her  jewels  were  again  thus  given. 
In  former  years  she  had  recorded,  "The  duke 
allowed  me  to  sell  £000  worth  of  diamonds,  quaintly 
saying  '  that  stones  were  much  prettier  in  a 
chapel  wall  than  around  one's  neck/  " 

Now  that  she  had  no  one  to  consult  but  her  own 
will,  she  cheerfully  laid  her  ornaments  on  the  altar 
of  benevolence  and  piety. 

On  the  disruption  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  on 
the  subject  of  State  patronage,  the  Duchess  of 
Gordon  took  a  most  decided  course.  It  is  im- 
possible to  do  anything  like  justice  in  this  brief 
sketch  to  so  important  a  subject  as  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  It  is 
enough  to  record  that,  faithful  to  her  convictions, 
the  Duchess  of  Gordon  helped  forward  what  she 
believed  to  be  the  right.  It  was  a  trial — a  loss 
to  her — to  be  obliged  to  differ  from  many  whom 
she  loved  and  esteemed ;  but  we  have  seen  enough 
of  her  character  to  know  that  she  would  not 
confer  with  flesh  and  blood,  or  be  deterred  by 
any  worldly  considerations  in  treading  what  she 
deemed  the  path  of  duty.  Her  course  was  resolute, 
and  her  name  will  ever  be  venerated  among  those 
faithful  ministers  of  the  Kirk,  who  were  willing  to 
encounter  the  loss  of  all  earthly  benefits,  so  that 
the  purity  of  the  Church,  in  their  belief,  might  be 
promoted. 

Of  course,  for  years  there  was  turmoil  and  great 
searchings  of  heart;  but  yet,  living  among  her 


ELIZABETH,    DUCHESS   OP   GORDON.  107 

schools  and  cottages,  and  doing  her  works  of  kind- 
liness, this  honoured  lady  was  kept  in  perfect  peace. 

A  severe  illness  in  January,  1861,  from  which 
she  recovered,  was  felt  as  a  premonition  of  the  end. 
She  diligently  began  from  that  time  to  set  her 
house  in  order ;  comforting  her  heart  by  thinking 
of  others,  and  devising  good  to  the  hundreds  of 
children  in  her  schools  and  to  their  parents. 

Her  last  illness  was  rather  sudden,  and  it  does 
not  seem  that  she  was  aware  of  its  alarming  cha- 
racter ;  but  her  life  had  long  been  a  preparation  for 
death.  Holy  living  is  what  we  should  emulate,  and 
leave  the  dying  testimony  to  shape  itself  as  the 
Lord  directs. 

On  Sunday  evening,  the  31st  of  January,  in  her 
seventieth  year,  she  closed  her  eyes  on  this  world, 
to  open  them  in  the  land  of  the  blest ;  realizing  the 
words  of  her  favourite  hymn,  on  the  last  words  of 
Rutherford  : — 

"The  sands  of  time  are  sinking; 

The  dawn  of  heaven  breaks ; 
The  summer  morn  I've  sighed  for — 

The  fair  sweet  morn,  awakes. 
Dark,  dark,  hath  been  the  midnight, 

But  the  dayspring  is  at  hand; 
And  glory,  glory  dwelleth 

In  our  Immanuel's  land." 


CHAPTER  VII. 


JANE    AND     ANNE    TAYLOR 


\ 


HERE  are  two  poems  —  sweet 
true  poems,  though  written  for 
infant  lips  —  made,  like  the 
flowers,  to  delight  all  minds, 
and  which  are  probably  more  fa- 
miliar to  millions  of  readers  than  any 
other  verses  in  our  language.  They 
are  —  "  My  mother/'  by  Anne  Taylor; 
and  "Twinkle,  twinkle,  little  star/' 
by  her  sister  Jane. 
These  sisters  were  members  of  a  sweet,  congenial, 
united  family,  nearly  unique  in  the  annals  of  litera- 
ture. They  inherited  from  a  line  of  ancestors,  dis- 
tinguished in  a  far  nobler  sense  than  by  mere 
worldly  rank,  acute  and  penetrating  intellect,  energy 
and  decision  of  character,  accompanied  by  great 
self-control  and  perseverance.  These  are  the  quali- 


MISSES   JANE  AND   ANNE   TAYLOR.  109 

ties  which,  under  the  Divine  blessing,  lead  to 
eminence. 

In  the  year  1781,  a  young  married  couple,  aged 
respectively  23  and  22,  set  up  their  first  home  in 
lodgings  at  Islington.  Their  marriage  dower  con- 
sisted of  love  and  faith  towards  God  and  each  other, 
superior  intelligence,  and  habits  of  industry  and 
frugality.  Isaac  Taylor,  the  husband,  was  an  en- 
graver, with  no  other  certain  income  than  half  a 
guinea  a  week  for  three  days'  work,  weekly  provided 
for  him  by  his  elder  brother,  who  was  afterwards 
known  as  "  the  learned  editor  of  Calmet's  Diction- 
ary." This  income,  with  thirty  pounds  in  hand, 
and  a  hundred  pounds  in  stock  possessed  by  Mrs. 
Taylor,  and  furniture  enough  for  their  two  pleasant 
rooms,  comprised  their  pecuniary  means  for  start- 
ing in  life.  Both  these  young  people  were  endowed 
with  those  distinctive  qualities  which  we  call  a 
character.  Both  were  sincerely  religious,  showing 
forth  their  principles  in  their  daily  life. 

In  January,  L782,  Anne,  their  gifted  eldest  child, 
was  born.  A  year  and  nine  months  after,  September, 
1 783,  Jane,  destined  to  be  so  well  known  and  loved, 
was  added  to  the  household.  A  removal  had  taken 
place  from  what  then  was  a  rural  suburb  of  London, 
to  Red  Lion  Street,  Holborn,  and  here  their  first  son, 
who  did  not  survive  childhood,  was  given  to  them. 

If  the  father  had  now  to  toil  very  hard  to  main- 
tain his  family,  the  mother's  exertions  were  quite 
as  great.  She  never  allowed  herself  any  recreation, 


110  WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

and  might  have  broken  down  both  her  mind  and 
body  in  mere  household  drudgery,  had  not  a  friend 
wisely  and  kindly  advised  her  ever  to  strive  to  be  her 
husband's  companion  in  higher  things.  This  advice 
she  so  firmly  acted  on  that  she  commenced  a  practice 
of  reading  aloud  to  him  daily,  which  was  of  the 
utmost  mental  benefit  and  pleasure  not  only  to  her- 
self but  to  her  young  family.  She  became  that  rare 
thing  then — and  not  too  common  now — a  good 
reader,  and  exercised  her  mind  on  intellectual  topics 
suggested  by  her  reading. 

Some  threatening  of  ill  health,  and  the  expense 
of  rearing  a  family  in  London,  determined  Mr. 
Taylor  to  take  a  very  resolute  step,  and  remove 
himself  and  family  into  the  country.  After  many 
inquiries,  a  spacious  old-fashioned  house  and  good 
garden  were  found  at  Lavenham,  in  Suffolk,  for  six 
pounds  a  year !  No  such  dwelling  could  be  found 
now  for  treble  that  price.  Here,  far  from  all 
ordinary  postal  or  coach  communication,  amid 
humble,  kindly,  sensible  neighbours,  and  in  whole- 
some retirement,  began  a  system  of  domestic  living 
and  home  instruction  for  the  children,  which, 
whether  judged  by  its  immediate  or  after  results, 
must  be  pronounced  as  admirable  as  it  was  un- 
common. 

Mr.  Taylor,  whose  Christian  zeal  was  most  earnest, 
set  up  a  Sunday  School  for  the  poor  children  of  the 
place — about  the  time  when  Mr.  Eaikes  of  Glou- 
cester began  the  great  work  there,  which  has  led  to 


MISSES   JANE   AND   ANNE    TAYLOR.  Ill 

such  wonderful  results.  Sunday  School  work  led 
to  his  giving  addresses,  which  were  prized  by  the 
parents  and  others ;  and  so,  without  intending  any- 
thing but  Christian  usefulness  to  his  neighbours, 
he  almost  unconsciously  became  a  preacher  of  the 
gospel.  Evidently  he  was  one  of  those  called  of 
God,  and  led  by  a  way  he  had  not  anticipated  into 
the,  Christian  ministry. 

In  1848,  Anne  (then  Mrs.  Gilbert)  wrote  in  the 
Sunday  School  Magazine  an  account  of  her  father's 
beginning  a  Sabbath  School  sixty  years  previously. 

Mrs.  Taylor  had  with  very  great  reluctance, 
amounting  to  anguish,  consented  to  the  removal  of 
the  family  to  the  country.  Soon  the  garden  and 
rural  beauty  around  "  won  her  heart."  She  lived 
fully  to  assent  to  the  words  of  one  of  her  daughters, 
that  it  was  "  a  happy  seclusion."  Here  the  children, 
the  sisters  especially,  made  their  own  amusements. 
Jane  asked  to  have  a  brick  pig-sty  (!)  given  to 
her,  which  she  cleared  out  for  a  house,  and  here  the 
study  and  the  play  of  the  two  little  girls  went  on 
most  joyfully.  The  finding  out  occupations  for 
themselves,  and  a  certain  independence  in  the 
selection  of  pursuits,  aided  by  great  activity,  made 
them  very  happy  children. 

Mr.  Taylor  pursued  his  profession  as  an  engraver, 
having  continuous  employment  from  London, 
which  of  course  he  had  occasionally  to  visit.  Except 
at  these  absences,  the  children  were  the  companions 
of  their  parents;  they  listened  to  their  mother's 


112  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

reading  aloud,  picked  up  subjects  of  thought  and 
conversation,  and  were  thus  being  educated  in  the 
best  sense  of  intelligent  yet  deferential  familiarity ; 
good  manners,  kindly  feelings,  and  useful  arts  were 
all  gained  in  that  happy  household. 

The  family  had  to  mourn  some  losses  of  infant 
members  ;  but  one  brother  was  born  at  Lavenham, 
whose  name  holds  an  honoured  place  in  the  best 
literature  of  this  age  :  Isaac  Taylor,  the  author  of  a 
long  list  of  most  valuable  and  suggestive  books. 

The  times  between  1789  and  1795  were  hard,  in 
every  sense.  Provisions  were  dear,  taxation  high, 
labour  ill  remunerated,  and  persecution,  both  re- 
ligious and  political,  rampant.  In  such  a  time  the 
fine  arts  could  not  flourish,  nor  could  a  Dissenter, 
however  mild  and  blameless  his  life,  escape  insult 
and  danger  from  an  ignorant  and  excited  populace. 

Mr.  Taylor  had  gained  great  mastery  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  during  some  part  of  the  time  he  resided 
at  Lavenham  obtained  large  sums  for  his  engrav- 
ings, some  of  which  became  celebrated ;  one  in  par- 
ticular, from  Opie's  historical  picture  of  the  murder 
of  David  Eizzio. 

But  troubles  came.  A  dangerous  illness  brought 
the  dear  father  to  the  brink  of  the  grave ;  and  the 
anxious  wife  and  mother,  always  of  an  extremely 
sensitive,  tender  nature,  was  worn  to  a  shadow  by 
her  incessant  cares,  even  though  she  knew  better 
than  most  where  to  go  for  strength.  It  is  not  pro- 
mised that  the  Lord's  people  shall  escape  trials; 


MISSES   JANE    AND   ANNE    TAYLOE.  113 

many  of  the  very  best  have  to  struggle  on  "through 
great  tribulation."  But  help  comes  to  them  in  the 
struggle.  Mr.  Taylor  recovered,  and  his  ministra- 
tions were  so  valued,  that  his  spiritual  teaching  was 
sought  after  and  spoken  of  far  beyond  Lavenham. 
The  Independent  Church  at  Colchester  gave  him 
an  invitation,  which  he  accepted;  the  family  leaving 
their  Lavenham  home  with  sincere  regret,  but  yet 
as  a  call  of  duty. 

Anne  and  Jane  were  respectively  fourteen  an-d 
thirteen  when  they  went  to  reside  at  Colchester. 
Quiet,  observant,  graceful  girls,  very  merry  among 
themselves,  yet  with  those  bashful,  retiring  man- 
ners not  so  much  seen  now  as  in  former  times. 

They  had  already  begun  to  use  their  pens ;  and 
they  neglected  no  opportunity  of  improvement 
which  came  in  their  way  among  a  more  extended 
circle  of  young  friends;  always  being  careful  to  form 
friendships  with  the  best  companions. 

In  study,  in  a  full  share  of  household  duties,  in  the 
care  arid  teaching  of  their  younger  brothers,  super- 
intended in  all  things  by  their  admirable  parents, 
their  first  years  at  Colchester  were  passed.  One 
indulgence  they  had — which,  in  their  own  estimation, 
they  considered  was  a  valuable  aid  in  the  formation 
of  their  mental  and  spiritual  characters — a  little 
separate  study  for  each.  It  might  be,  and  was,  but 
a  slip  from  an  attic  chamber,  a  lumber  closet  cleared 
out,  or  a  recess  partitioned  off;  but  each  of  the 
girls  and  boys,  as  they  could  use  it,  had  respectively 

i 


WOMEN    WORTH    EMULATING. 

this  kind  of  retiring-place  of  their  own.  How  much 
of  individuality  and  thoughtful  habit  was  doubtless 
promoted  by  this  plan  !  In  "  Home  Education  "  * 
this  opportunity  of  seclusion  is  insisted  on  as  most 
essential  to  the  growth  of  a  reflective  character. 

During  this  time,  as  indeed  always,  Mrs.  Taylor 
may  be  called  the  governess,  and  her  husband  the 
tutor,  of  the  family.  The  latter,  carefully  reflecting 
on  the  difficulties  of  the  times,  resolved  to  give  his 
daughters  knowledge  of  an  art  by  which  they  could 
gain  their  own  living  if  he  were  taken  from  them. 
So,  in  1797,  when  Anne  was  sixteen,  the  father 
brought  the  girls  into  his  workshop  (studio  we 
should  now  call  it)  and  taught  them  drawing  and 
engraving.  Art  education  for  girls  was  then  not 
thought  of ;  but  the  father  in  this  household  was 
a  man  beyond  his  age  in  many  things,  and  his 
gifted  daughters  amply  recompensed  by  their  pro- 
gress the  pains  he  took  with  them. 

No  apprentices  could  work  more  continuously 
than  did  Anne  and  Jane  with  their  graving  tools 
and  etching  needles.  They  had  an  hour  for  dinner, 
half  an  hour  for  tea,  and  when  the  evening  hour  of 
release  came,  and  they  were  free  to  follow  their  own 
pursuits,  the  time  seemed  so  short  which  they  had 
for  reading  or  composition,  that  they  acquired, 
during  all  that  time  of  year  when  daylight  aided 
them,  the  valuable  habit  of  early  rising. 

The  faculty  of  verse  was  soon  manifested  by  both 
*  By  Isaac  Taylor. 


MISSES   JANE   AND   ANNE    TAYLOR.  115 

sisters,  and  greatly  delighted  in  by  them ;  but  the 
higher  gift  of  poetic  feeling  and  perception  of  the 
beautiful  in  nature,  in  human  life,  and  in  art,  was 
also  theirs.  Anne  was  the  first  that  ventured  into 
print;  some  stanzas  in  "The  Minor's  Pocket  Book" 
induced  her  to  attempt  something  of  the  kind.  A 
prize  of  six  copies  of  the  work  was  offered  for  some 
rhymed  solutions  of  enigma  or  charade.  She  wrote 
what  was  required,  under  the  name  of  "  Juvenilia/' 
and  had  the  joy — a  secret  pleasure  then — to  find  she 
was  successful.  To  this  little  work  she  continued 
to  contribute  for  some  years,  afterwards  became 
its  editor,  and  only  gave  it  up  on  her  marriage. 

Children's  books  were  then  very  rare,  and  very 
poorly  executed.  Dr.  Watts  seemed  to  have  no 
successor  in  teaching  great  truths  in  simple  lan- 
guage to  the  young.  Messrs.  Darton  and  Harvey 
were  then  the  publishers  of  children's  books,  and 
the  writings  of  "  Juvenilia/'  and  afterwards  of  the 
same  contributor  under  the  name  of  "  Clara," 
attracted  their  attention.  Some  plates  for  their 
juvenile  works  were  executed  by  the  sisters  Anne 
and  Jane,  and  an  offer  was  made  them,  in  1800,  to 
exercise  their  talents  in  writing  for  the  young. 

Never  were  youthful  aspirants  more  fitted  for  the 
sweet  and  important  work  of  giving  instruction  to 
the  opening  mind.  They  had  feeling,  fancy,  tender- 
ness, piety ;  and  thus  the  joint  work  began,  which, 
as  "Original  Poems  for  Infant  Minds,"  was  to  enjoy 
such  a  well-deserved  popularity,  and  to  remain 


116  WOMEN    WOIiTH    EMULATING. 

unsurpassed,  after  three-quarters  of  a  century  emi- 
nent for  its  literary  activity  and  excellence. 

It  is  characteristic  that  the  sisters — though  well 
knowing,  by  its  want,  the  worth  of  money — were 
comparatively  indifferent  to  pecuniary  recompense. 
The  delight  of  composition,  the  joy  of  finding  they 
were  doing  good  to  the  young,  and  the  approval  of 
many  contemporaries,  whose  name  and  fame  they 
had  admired,  without  ever  thinking  they  should  know 
and  be  known  by  them,  was  a  priceless  recompense. 

The  "  Hymns  for  Infant  Minds "  was  a  still 
higher  effort  of  genius.  Recognised  as  among  the 
best  writers  for  the  young,  from  the  time  of  its 
publication  and  great  success,  constant  literary  work 
was  engaged  in  by  both  the  sisters.  It  was  a 
beautiful  trait  that  each  esteemed  the  other  better 
than  herself.  No  such  feeling  as  rivalry  was  at 
all  possible  in  such  lovely  natures,  so  elevated  by 
grace  and  truth.  Somehow,  the  world  was  led  to 
ascribe  rather  the  higher  attributes  to  Jane.  It 
arose  from  their  supposing  many  of  her  sister's  best 
poems  to  be  hers.  But  in  a  careful  analysis  it 
would  be  very  difficult — and  surely  where  each  is 
so  excellent,  needless — to  assign  any  superiority. 
The  elder  was  permitted  to  live  out  a  long  and 
most  complete  life ;  the  younger  died  in  the  zenith 
of  her  power ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  loving  reve- 
rence, both  of  relatives  and  readers,  so  hallowed  her 
memory,  that  the  survivor,  for  a  time,  was  over- 
shadowed by  the  radiance  of  her  fame. 


MISSES  JANE  AND  ANNE  TAYLOE.       119 

Both  sisters  wrote  clear,  graphic,  elegant  prose, 
as  well  as  poetry.  Jane's  "Contributions  of  Q.Q.," 
and  her  story  of  "Display/1  and  other  writings, 
prove  her  skill.  But  Anne  was  a  journalist  and  a 
reviewer.  She  wrote  for  The  Eclectic  in  its  palmy 
days,  when  some  of  the  leading  minds  among  our 
great  men — as  Revs.  John  Foster  and  Robert  Hall — 
were  contributors.  It  was  not  until  the  recent 
publication  of  Mrs.  Gilbert's  Life,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  biographies  of  our  time,  prolific  as  it  is 
in  this  department  of  writing,  that  her  real  genius 
was  known. 

Removal  to  Ongar,  in  Essex,  and  the  residence 
there  during  the  last  eighteen  years  of  their  father's 
life,  has  caused  people  to  speak  of  the  household  as 
if  Ongar  was  the  only  locality  associated  with  their 
celebrity.  It  certainly  was  a  very  dear  and  memo- 
rable residence  to  them  all,  consecrated  both  by  life 
and  death. 

On  December  24,  1813,  Miss  Anne  Taylor  was 
married  to  the  Rev.  J.  Gilbert,  then  the  classical 
tutor  at  Rotherham  College ;  and  for  some  years 
after,  though  her  literary  pursuits  were  never  en- 
tirely relinquished,  the  cares  of  a  rapidly-increasing 
and  large  family  demanded  her  attention,  and  she 
proved  to  them  and  to  their  father,  a  tender 
guide,  instructress,  helper,  companion,  friend — the 
same  inestimable  wife  and  mother  that  her  own 
early  home  had  possessed.  At  Rotherham,  at  Hull, 
and  finally  at  Nottingham,  she  was  the  centre  of  a 


J20  WOMEN    WORTH   EMULATING. 

household  that  emulated  and  inherited  her  virtues, 
and  of  a  wider  circle  that  loved  and  honoured  her. 

Jane  was  for  some  years  after  her  sister's  marriage 
more  closely  associated  with  her  beloved  brother 
Isaac,  and  the  most  tender  friendship  subsisted  be- 
tween them.  As  Isaac's  health  was  delicate, — and 
the  youngest  child  of  the  family  at  Ongar  was  a 
daughter,  Jemima,  who  became  the  devoted  attend- 
ant on  her  mother, — Jane  went  with  her  brother  to 
Devon  and  to  Cornwall.  At  Marazion,  in  Mount's 
Bay,  many  of  Jane's  later  works  were  written  ;  and 
it  was  no  small  comfort  to  the  good  father  in  his 
declining  years,  and  to  the  mother,  as  delicacy  of 
health,  increased  by  her  deafness,  pressed  on  her, 
that  Jane  was  realizing  an  independence  by  her 
writings. 

It  is  strange  to  read  that  although  their  father 
wished  to  make  his  daughters  artists,  he  at  first 
shrunk  from  their  being  engaged  in  literature.  "  I 
have  no  wish  that  my  daughters  should  be  authors," 
he  had  said,  when  their  honourable  career  was  first 
opening  before  them.  He  lived  to  retract  that 
wish ;  for  not  only  his  daughters,  but  his  wife,  when 
released  by  years  from  the  pressure  of  domestic 
cares,  became  a  very  successful  writer  on  domestic 
and  educational  subjects.  Her  pen  was  the  solace 
to  Mrs.  Taylor's  infirmities ;  and  the  substitute  for 
the  companionship  of  her  children,  as  they  had  to 
leave  the  "  old  house  at  home." 

In  the  year  1823,  Miss  Jane  Taylor's  health  began 


MISSES   JA.NE   AND    ANNE    TAYLOK.  121 

to  fail.  She  had  symptoms  of  a  painful  malady; 
but  her  patience  and  hopefulness  prevented  her 
family  for  a  long  time  from  thinking  her  case  so 
serious  as  it  was.  Her  brother  Isaac  was  to  her 
the  same  devoted  friend  that  she  had,  during  his 
illness,  been  to  him.  After  trial  of  other  places,  in 
search  of  health,  Jane  returned  to  Ongar ;  and,  as 
her  strength  declined,  it  was  her  beloved  brother 
who  carried  her  up  and  down  stairs,  and  tried  by 
every  means,  aided  by  the  solicitude  of  the  tenderest 
parents,  to  cheer  the  sufferer.  And  she  was  cheered; 
for  heavenly  support  was  given  her,  and  her  mind 
was  stayed  in  perfect  peace. 

The  decline  was  so  gradual,  that  the  end  was 
rather  sudden.  She  herself  was  the  first  to  an- 
nounce the  change  she  felt.  On  the  13th  of  April, 
1824,  she  cheerfully  said,  e<  Put  me  on  a  clean  cap, 
and  set  the  room  to  rights,  for  I  am  going."  In 
answer  to  an  inquiry  of  her  father's,  she  said, 
in  a  firm  voice,  "  Though  I  walk  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  I  will  fear  no  evil ;  " 
and  then  lay  quite  still.  About  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  before  her  death,  her  youngest  brother, 
Jeffrey,  asked  her  if  she  felt  any  pain.  She 
replied,  "  No,  dear ;  only  a  little  sleepy ; "  and 
soon  after,  with  one  long  sigh,  she  died  *  to  the 
deep  grief  and  loss  of  her  parents  and  family — to 
her  own  eternal  gain. 

*  Autobiography  and  other  Memorials  of  Mrs.  Gilbert, 
vol.  ii.  p.  49. 


122  WOMEN   WORTH    EMULATING. 

One  shrinks  from  thinking  what  the  grief  of 
such  parents  must  have  been  for  such  a  daughter. 
But  they  were  true  Christians,  and  therefore  their 
consolations  were  not  few  nor  small. 

Not  quite  five  years  after  this  loss,  the  family 
were  bereaved  of  their  beloved  father.  He  was, 
notwithstanding  several  attacks  of  illness,  full  of 
mental  vigour  to  the  last.  He  died  suddenly,  on 
December  12th,  1829.  His  wife — his  other  self — 
did  not  linger  long  after  him.  In  five  months  her 
spirit  was  released  from  the  fetters  of  the  body, 
and  went  to  join  her  husband  in  praising  that  dear 
Redeemer  in  heaven,  whom  they  had  so  long 
devoutly  loved  and  followed  on  earth. 

Mrs.  Gilbert,  as  before  stated,  lived  what  may  be 
called  a  complete  life.  She  sustained  every  rela- 
tionship and  responsibility — daughter,  sister,  wife, 
mother,  widow,  friend — excellent  in  all.  She 
retained  her  youthful  feelings  and  cheerful  sympa- 
thies to  the  age  of  eighty-four.  Her  latest  writings 
showed  no  abatement  of  mental  power,  while  her 
noble  mind,  enlarged  by  her  greater  experience, 
hailed  every  sign  of  progress  in  female  education, 
in  social  and  political  reforms.  She  was  not  visited 
by  any  severe  illness,  nor,  except  a  slight  deafness, 
with  any  infirmity.  Still  she  was  ready ;  her  lamp 
ever  burning,  and  her  spirit  waiting  for  her 
Saviour's  call. 

She  wrote  up  her  diary,  had  settled  all  her 
yearly  accounts,  for  Christmas  was  approaching; 


MISSES    JANE    AND   ANNE    TAYLOR.  123 

and  with  a  smile,  kissing  her  daughter  twice, — 
saying,  first — "  That's  for  '  thank  you ; ' "  and  then 
again — "  and  that's  for  '  good-night/  " — she  retired 
to  rest. 

The  next  morning,  the  family  could  not  rouse 
her.  She  slept  gently  on — still  slept.  The  day  wore 
on  to  night,  and  still  she  gently  slept ;  once  there 
dawned  a  slight  shadow  of  a  smile — then  the 
breathing  was  a  little  heavier — and  then,  with  a 
single  sigh,  the  land  of  clouds  and  death  was  left 
for  that  of  light  and  life,  on  December  20th,  1866. 

"  Oh  !  not  'tilt  brittle  walls, 

'  Till  life's  gay  glittering  show, 
'Till  each  in  ruin  falls, 

Shall  the  freed  spirit  know 

Its  growth,  its  strength,  its  native  skies. 

Poor  captive  soul,  awake,  arise  1 " 


Butler  &.  Tanner,  The  Selwood  Printing  Works,  Frome,  and  London. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


JUN  24 


*       n  n  n  '''  '• 


